Volodymyr Zelensky, the leader of Ukraine, says he is willing to exchange two North Vietnamese soldiers for Russian prisoners of war in Russia.
” For those North Korean men who do not wish to return, there may be other alternatives available”, Zelensky said on X. He continued,” Those who want to bring harmony closer by spreading the truth about this conflict in Korea will have that opportunity.”
One of the two soldiers, according to the Security Service of Ukraine ( SBU), said he believed he was going to Russia for” training” rather than fighting.
He was discovered wearing a Soviet military identification cards that had been issued in the name of a different person. The other man had no paperwork.
The two gentlemen, who were taken prisoner on January 9, are in Kyiv and receiving medical care, according to SBU.
They are being interrogated by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, according to SBU, but only because they can respond Korean.
Russia has no refuted Russia’s claims that it engaged North Korean forces in its conflict with Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin said in October that it was his region’s” royal choice” whether or not to install for soldiers.
On Saturday, Zelensky uploaded photos of the two captured men, one of them showing his nose and chin in tape, and the other having both of his fingers entirely wrapped up.
Zelensky even shared a picture of a dark Russian defense ID card that lists Turan as the place of birth in the Soviet republic of Tuva, which has a border with Mongolia.
SBU reported that the man who was found with the ID cards confessed to interrogators that he had received the document in Russia during the fall of 2024.
He added that some of North Korea’s battle units had received one-week of training at the time, according to SBU.
” It is noticeable that the detainee… emphasises that he was reportedly going for education, not to fight a battle against Ukraine”, the SBU statement said.
In a speech released on Saturday, Zelensky’s office claimed that the Russians are” trying to conceal the fact that these are men from North Korea by providing them with documents claiming to be from Tuva or other lands under Moscow’s control.”
According to the intelligence service, the man with the ID cards claimed to have been a soldier serving North Korea since 2021 and was born in 2005.
According to SBU, the next prisoner is said to have written some of his comments because he had an wounded neck.
SBU said it was certain that he was born in 1999 and had been a scout rifle in North Korea since 2016.
According to the Geneva Convention, prisoners may be subjected to public interest protection and their speech of understanding when being interrogated.
BBC News and other global media outlets have not yet verified Ukraine’s account of the prisoners ‘ arrest.
North Korea sent at least 10,000 soldiers to Russia, according to a report from Ukraine and South Korea late last month.
More than 300 North Vietnamese soldiers have died while fighting for Russia, according to the National Intelligence Service of South Korea, and at least 2,700 have been wounded.
A North Korean man who was thought to have been the first to get captured while supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passed away after being taken alive by Russian forces, according to South Korea’s intelligence agency in December.
There should be no ambiguity about the Russian army’s dependence on defense support from North Korea, Zelensky said on Sunday.