Two North Korea soldiers captured alive in Russia as Ukrainian secret service quiz PoWs for vital info, Zelensky says

UKRAINE has captured two North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Vladimir Putin's commanders have been desperate to hide the fact that their “meatgrinder” recruits have been supplied by ally Kim Jong Un.

North Korean soldiers have been killed during battles in Russia's Kursk region - with their faces burned off by Russian comrades to avoid identification.

But Zelensky revealed that two North Korean soldiers had been taken alive.

One was captured on January 9 by Tactical Group 84 of Special Ops and the other by Ukrainian paratroopers, the Ukrainian secret service said.

They are now in Kyiv - where they will be questioned.

They are among around 11,000 of Kim’s troops drafted into Putin’s illegal war after the pariah pair sealed a pact to unite against the West.

Zelensky said: "Our soldiers have captured North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region.

"Two soldiers, though wounded, survived and were transported to Kyiv, where they are now communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine.

"This was not an easy task: Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war against Ukraine.

"I am grateful to the soldiers of Tactical Group No. 84 of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as our paratroopers, who captured these two individuals.

"As with all prisoners of war, these two North Korean soldiers are receiving the necessary medical assistance.

"I have instructed the Security Service of Ukraine to grant journalists access to these prisoners.

"The world needs to know the truth about what is happening."

The military card of one of the captured men shows that the Russians gave the North Koreans fake identities with the pretence that they were from a remote region of Siberia.

This trick was exposed earlier when North Korean bodies killed in the war were inspected by Ukrainian servicemen.

One of the captives was given a false Russian identity of Antonin Ayasovich Arankyn, born 03.10.1998 in the republic of Tuva.

His document shows him to be single, with secondary higher education and the profession of a tailor.

The ID was issued by the Military Commissariat of the Pyi-Khemsky district, of Tuva, a mountainous Russian republic bordering Mongolia.

The other had no documents.

The SBU believes the pair are North Koreans after saying that the captive soldiers do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian.

The soldier with the Russian identity said this was issued to him when he was brought to fight in the war.

The SBU stated: “During interrogation, the DPRK [North Korean] soldier who was found with the ticket [ID document] told SBU officers that this was issued to him in Russia in the autumn of 2024.

"At that time, according to him, part of the North Korean combat units underwent coordination with Russian groups for one week.

"One of them was born in 2005, held the position of a shooter and served in the military in North Korea since 2021.

"The other was born in 1999, and has served in the DPRK army since 2016 as a reconnaissance sniper."

Vladimir Putin has sought to hide the extent to which he has needed to draft in 11,000 or more North Korean fighters.

Giving them fake Russian IDs appears to be part of this strategy.

Zelensky has previously said that almost 4,000 out of 11,000 sent to the war have been killed or maimed.

Previously captured North Koreans have died from severe wounds within hours.

SUICIDE MISSION

The Kim fighters are used in meat-grinder assaults in the part of Russia’s Kursk region which has been occupied by Ukrainian forces since October.

While Russia has made incremental gains, it has failed to dislodge the Ukrainian forces from this area.

North Korean troops are being used as "human mine detectors" one Ukrainian Lieutenant Colonel “Leopard” has claimed.

The troops walk in a single-file death march until one is blown up, he said, claiming that their commanders are "unfazed by loss of life."

Lieutenant Colonel “Leopard” told : "Where Ukrainians use a mine-clearing vehicle, [the Russians] just use people.

"They just walk in single file, three to four metres from each other, if one is blown up, then the medics go behind to pick up the dead, and the crowd continues one after another.

"That’s how they pass through minefields," he said.

Images have shown a line of dead North Korean troops laid out in the snow moments after they joined the fight on the front lines.

Numerous reports have shown a disturbing pattern beginning to emerge of North Korean troops being sent out on suicide missions on behalf of Russia.

Footage emerged recently of Kim Jong-un’s fighters being sent to jog through snowy no-man’s-land and fatally soak up Ukrainian ammo.

Meanwhile, on a battlefield in Kursk, some two dozen men thought to be North Korean fighters were seen huddled together before jogging out towards enemy lines.

Ukrainian veteran Vitaliy, 35, told The Times it was "like a dream for our mortars and machine gunners".

Other reports tell of North Korean soldiers and officials turning on their own people.

Troops are reportedly executing their own wounded comrades to prevent them from being captured by Ukraine.

One North Korean soldier killed on the front lines was allegedly sent there for betraying Kim Jong Un, according to his recovered diary.

Zelensky previously said: "We can see that the Russian military and the North Korean enforcers have no interest in the survival of these Koreans at all.

“Everything is arranged in a way that makes it impossible for us to capture the Koreans as prisoners.

“Their own people are executing them, there are such cases.

"And the Russians send them into assaults with minimal protection."