Zelensky offers to release captured North Korean soldiers in exchange for Ukrainian soldiers held in Russia
By Adam Pourahmadi and Audry Jeong, CNN
(CNN) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is willing to release North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia in exchange for Ukrainian soldiers being held captive in Russia.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organize their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Zelensky said Sunday in a post on X that included a video purportedly showing two North Korean POWs being interrogated.
On Saturday, Ukraine said it had captured two North Korean soldiers, marking the first time that Kyiv has captured soldiers alive from the isolated state.
Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have officially acknowledged the presence of North Korean troops in Russia.
CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment, and is seeking comment from North Korea.
In the video shared by Zelensky on Sunday, both soldiers appear injured and are likely speaking under duress. A Korean-speaking voice can be heard translating questions from the interrogator.
One soldier has a wound to his jaw, the other has bandaged hands.
One of the soldiers, who appears in the video lying down, says he did not know he was fighting in a war against Ukraine and that his commanders told him it was a training exercise.
The interrogator, whose voice has been modulated to obscure their identity, asks both soldiers whether they want to return to North Korea, according to a CNN translation of the video.
One nods, the other – after further prompting from the translator, who asks, “Do you like it here in Ukraine? It’s nicer here” – says he wants to stay in Ukraine but adds later that he will do as he is told.
In his daily address later Sunday, Zelensky claimed that one of the soldiers had “expressed a desire to stay in Ukraine.”
According to Ukrainian and Western assessments, some 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy several hundred square kilometers after staging a cross-border incursion in August last year.
Ukraine estimates more than 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in Kursk, while a senior US official said North Korea has seen “several hundred” casualties – both killed and wounded – in the region since October.
On Monday, South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun, who was briefed by the National Intelligence Service, said about 300 North Korean soldiers sent to Russia are believed to have died so far with 2,700 injured.
In video released Saturday by Ukraine’s Security Service, a spokesman says one of the North Koreans was captured on January 9 by Ukrainian special forces, and the other by Ukrainian paratroopers.
In his statement on X, Zelensky vowed to capture more North Korean soldiers.
“In addition to the first captured soldiers from North Korea, there will undoubtedly be more. It’s only a matter of time before our troops manage to capture others. There should be no doubt left in the world that the Russian army is dependent on military assistance from North Korea,” Zelensky said on X.
Officials in Kyiv have accused Russia of trying to cover up the involvement of North Korean soldiers on the battlefield.
The-CNN-Wire
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