Zelensky is ready to exchange North Korean soldiers with Ukrainians detained in Russia News of the war between Russia and Ukraine

The offer comes after Ukraine announced the capture of two North Korean soldiers in the Russian Kursk region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kyiv is ‘ready to deliver’ Captured North Korean soldiers In exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war held in Russia.

The offer came on Sunday hours after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirmed Ukraine’s announcement that it had captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region.

Zelensky said in his book on

The Ukrainian leader said there would “undoubtedly be more” North Korean soldiers captured in the battle. “It is only a matter of time before our forces are able to arrest others,” he said.

Ukraine said on Saturday that two soldiers were wounded while fighting its forces in Russia’s Kursk region. This is the first time that Kiev has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since they entered the nearly three-year-old war last fall.

Ukrainian and Western assessments say that some 11,000 soldiers Forces from North Korea, Russia’s ally, were deployed in the Kursk region to support Russian forces.

Russia has neither confirmed nor denied their presence.

Zelensky said that Russian and North Korean forces suffered heavy losses.

He posted a short video clip showing the interrogation of two men introduced as North Korean soldiers. One of them is lying on the bed with his hands folded, and the other is sitting with his jaw bandaged.

One man said through an interpreter that he did not know he was fighting against Ukraine and was told he was in training.

He said he hid in a shelter during the attack and was found two days later. He said that if he was ordered to return to North Korea, he would do so, but that he was prepared to remain in Ukraine if given the opportunity.

Al Jazeera was unable to verify the video.

“One of them (the soldiers) expressed his desire to remain in Ukraine, and the other to return to Korea,” Zelensky said in a televised statement.

He added that for North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return home, there may be other options available, and “those who express their desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war in the (Korean) language will be granted that.” an opportunity.”

He did not provide specific details.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s National Intelligence Agency told Agence France-Presse that it “confirmed that the Ukrainian army captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 on the Kursk battlefield in Russia.”

The intelligence service said that one of the captured soldiers revealed that he received military training from Russian forces after arriving there in November.

“He initially thought he was being sent for training, but upon arriving in Russia he realized he had been sent,” the DNI said. The soldier also said that North Korean forces suffered “huge losses during the battle.”

Neither Russia nor North Korea responded to the intelligence accounts.

Zelensky said last month that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers were “killed or wounded” while fighting for Russia. But Seoul developed The number is in 1000.

The National Intelligence Service told South Korean lawmakers last month that “several North Korean casualties” had already been attributed to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks, as well as training incidents, with the highest rank “at least at the level of general.”

Due to losses among its forces, North Korea is preparing to deploy more troops in Ukraine, according to the South Korean military.