UKRAINE has captured two North Korean soldiers alive in the Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced.

The wounded men are the first taken alive since Kim Jong Un sent his soldiers to fight for Vladimir Putin.

They are now in Kyiv assisting the Ukrainian secret service, the SBU, who will be quizzing them for vital information.

Zelensky posted on X: “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.

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.

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