Ukraine’s forces have captured two North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday, the first such claim by Kyiv since North Korea sent thousands of troops to shore up Moscow's war effort on the other side of the world.
Zelenskyy made the comments days after Ukraine, facing a slow Russian onslaught in the east, began pressing new attacks in Kursk to retain ground captured in a lightning incursion in August — the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II.
Moscow’s counterattack has left Ukrainian forces outstretched and demoralized, killing and wounding thousands and retaking more than 40% of the 984 square kilometers (380 square miles) of Kursk Ukraine had seized.
“Our soldiers have captured North Korean soldiers in Kursk. These are two soldiers who, although wounded, survived, were taken to Kyiv, and are communicating” with Ukrainian security services, Zelenskyy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
He shared photos of two men resting on cots in a room with bars over the windows. Both wore bandages, one around his jaw and the other around both hands and wrists.
Zelenskyy said capturing the soldiers alive was “not easy.” He asserted that Russian and North Korean forces fighting in Kursk have tried to conceal the presence of North Korean soldiers, including by killing wounded comrades on the battlefield to avoid their capture and interrogation by Kyiv.
Ukraine's security service SBU on Saturday said one of the soldiers had no documents at all, while the other had been carrying a Russian military ID card in the name of a man from Tuva, a Russian region bordering Mongolia.
According to the SBU, one of the soldiers claimed he had been told he was going to Russia for training, rather than to fight against Ukraine. He said his combat unit, made up of North Koreans, only received one week of training alongside Russian troops before being sent to the front.
A senior Ukrainian military official said last month that a couple hundred North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces in Kursk have been killed or wounded in battle.
Ukraine estimates that 10,000 to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia. The White House and Pentagon said the North Korean forces have been battling on the front lines in largely infantry positions. They have been fighting with Russian units and, in some cases, independently around Kursk.
Its full-scale invasion three years ago left Russia holding a fifth of Ukraine, and Zelenskyy has hinted that he hopes controlling Kursk will help force Moscow to negotiate an end to the war. But multiple Ukrainian and Western officials in Kyiv last month told The Associated Press that they fear gambling on Kursk will weaken the whole 1000-kilometer (621-mile) front line, and Ukraine is losing precious ground in the east.
Zelenskyy spoke to U.S. President Joe Biden following the announcement of a new U.S. sanctions package on Russia's critically important energy sector, according to Zelenskyy's Telegram account.
The sanctions target more than 180 oil-carrying vessels that are suspected to be part of a shadow fleet utilized by the Kremlin to evade oil sanctions, as well as Russian energy majors, traders, oil field service firms and energy officials. Several of the vessels targeted are also suspected of shipping sanctioned Iranian oil, according to the Treasury Department.
“It is very important that America has now struck at Russia’s shadow tanker fleet and at companies such as Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, which accumulate money for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin personally. He must feel the price of his war, losing from his wallets,” Zelenskyy said, referencing two Russian energy giants blacklisted along with dozens of subsidiaries.
In response to the sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that “Washington’s hostile actions will not go unanswered” but did not provide details of any planned countermeasures.
Meanwhile in Russia, Ukrainian drones overnight slammed into apartment blocks in western Tambov province, blowing out windows and damaging balconies in two five-story blocks, acting regional Gov. Yegveniy Pervyshov said. There were injuries, he said, without giving details.
Russia shot down 85 Ukrainian drones, mostly targeting the south and west, the Defense Ministry reported Saturday. At the same time, Russia attacked its neighbor with 74 drones overnight into Saturday, according to Ukraine’s air force.
The relatively high number of Ukrainian drones, as cited by Russian officials, appeared to hint at Kyiv's efforts to ramp up domestic weapons production with the likely goal of inflicting damage comparable to that wrought by Moscow.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
20 Comments
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TaiwanIsNotChina
Apologists will scream and yell that these are just Tuvans who don't know a lick of Russian or Mongolian.
Mr Kipling
Zelenskyy "claims " should be enough to make you take this with a large pinch of salt. There may be a small number of NK artillery units far from the front line getting some battle practice as some unusual hardware has been spotted. But men in the tens, or low hundreds. If at all.
Moriah
These 2 men, whatever their nationality, where in Russia, not in Ukraine.
For the standpoint of international law, the following has occured:
1: Ukrainian armed gunmen entered Russia illegally
2: Ukrainian armed gunmen shot at an injured 2 men
3: Ukrainian armed gunmen then kidnapped these men and took them into Ukraine against their will.
Whether or not they are North Koreans or not, Russia can invite anybody they want onto Russian territory and Zelensky has violated International law by sending his troops into Russia.
The Kursk incursion has been a total disaster. From a military, moral or legal standpoint, it is wrong.
kurisupisu
The North Korean soldiers are victims.
I would hope Ukraine treats them accordingly.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Sources that say Putin's war can't be waged everywhere?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Easily mitigated by the fact that Putin's entire war is a war crime and Ukraine's existence is on the line.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Next you will be telling us they were just in russia for some live fire exercises.
ok1517
Moriah,
minor corrections / editing:
1: Russian marauders entered Ukraine illegally
2: Russian marauders shot at an injured thousands
3: Russian invaders then kidnapped thousands and took them into Russia against their will.
Russian invaders killed POWs
Russian invaders raped and looted in UkraineThere you go, got it fixed for you!
Mr. Kippling,
tens, maybe low hundreds?
How about getting the facts?
At least 11.000 NKs have moved to the Kursk region, according to unbiased sources. (CNN, BBC, Pentagon, South Korean agencies). Others are talking about 50.000 provided to Putain.
Ukraine prevails! (1049 days already in this 3-day-limited-operation)
Primusinter
I just watched Zelensky's channel. I suggest you go and look at the telegram too.
t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official
Pay attention to the military ID card there is no photo (there is not even a trace that it was glued) . No stamp, no date of issue of the document. It's a piece of paper...
The text from Zel's post is copied into the article.
Primusinter
And what?Their presence on the territory of Russia is legal.
Just tomorrow a video taken by Russians in a trench of the liberated Kurakhovo. 4 black soldiers were found in the trench. No ID cards are needed here to prove that they are not Ukrainians. And I'm not worried about what they are doing on Kursk soil. The main thing is that they are dead and will no longer shoot Russians.
utorsa
@Primusinter,
Why can't black people be Ukrainians?
Are you a racist?
ok1517
Primus,
"Just tomorrow a video taken by Russians in a trench of the liberated Kurakhovo. 4 black soldiers were found in the trench."
I must assume you're a "clairvoyant" - knowing what will happen in the future!
Can you give me the lottery numbers for this coming Friday, finally want to hit the jackpot!
Primusinter
Are you serious?Your IQ is really bad. There are only a few black citizens of Ukraine in Ukraine. Because Ukraine has never imported black slaves from Africa like America or west Europe. Therefore, the people have preserved their white identity. What does racism have to do with it? I'm a racist less than you are. I don't even have such a concept in my mentality. They never talk about it in schools in my country. So... Four black-skinned soldiers in one trench is as unusual as four Japanese in a Ukrainian trench. Have you ever been to school? Hardly...However, there are many such illiterates like you here.
Primusinter
Sorry, I don't know why it happened
Just yeasterday*
wallace
Until the war, many non-white students were studying in Ukraine.
ok1517
Primus,
talking about other people's IQ is completely off topic, as is questioning their schooling as well as literacy!
Besides, where did you get that information concerning 4 black soldiers?
TASS, Iswestya, Russian news channels, or just looking in that crystal ball?
Fact is, those are / were 2 NK soldiers, deployed y Kim to help his buddy Putain.
Primusinter
Not so many as to gather four in one tranch. After finishing university most if them go for home leaving sometimes their offsprings with white mothers. But they are not so deep black like those in the trench. You know it better than me, why I'm explaining it to you? The article about Koreans. To the point in Ukraine like in Russia there are a lot of Koreans citizens of Russia
wallace
How many North Koreans live in Russia?
As of 2020, there were 4,842 Korean nationals and 163,684 ethnic Koreans living in Far East Russia.
Fighto!
So much for the claims of the fascists that there "are no North Koreans involved".
Those hapless Koreans - with zero combat experience - are on a hiding to nothing. Having them there shows the desperation of fascist Russia after 3 years.
This "special military operation" was supposed to last 72 hours.
Primusinter
I have already told. A video taken in a trench in Kurahovo. Four dead men, non-white (black) faces, military equipment with yellow tape on the hands - ukr marking.
Coulda been
@Pimusinter 9.07am
Before you start questioning someone's educational standard, I suggest you focus on your own literacy, commencing with the ability to proofread.
Second sentemce, sixth sentence are grammatically incorrect. Post of 9.09am lacks punctuation. Post of 9.26am contains numerous errors of grammar. Similarly the post of 9.38am. If you want to criticise, make sure your own standards meet requirements.
Coulda been
"sentence"
Primusinter
Hardly many, rare... May be in Far East .
I think that ethnic Koreans even more than 160 k. They are assimilated with Russians very much. They are the most trouble-free nationalities in Russia. Never any interethnic conflicts.
Primusinter
I think that even more than you could find:)))) Let's speak French without mistakes, non?