The Kremlin declined to comment Monday on Kyiv saying it had captured North Korean soldiers fighting with Moscow’s army in Russia’s Kursk region, after President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested he was ready to exchange them for Ukrainian POWs.
Russia has not denied or confirmed reports that thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent to its border Kursk region to help Moscow fight off a Ukrainian incursion.
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“We cannot comment in any way, we do not know what is true there,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, after Kyiv over the weekend published videos of two alleged North Korean soldiers being interrogated in Korean.
“We continue to discuss the possibility of exchanges, which is not easy work.. but for us the life of every Russian soldier is important,” Peskov added.
South Korea said Monday that around 300 North Korean troops have been killed and some 2,700 wounded while fighting Ukraine.
Citing Seoul’s spy agency, lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun told reporters that North Korean troops have been ordered to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner.
Zelensky a day earlier published a video of what Kyiv said were two North Korean soldiers -- one lying on a bed, with another sitting down, with a bandaged face.
“Ukraine is ready to hand over Kim Jong Un’s soldiers to him if he can organise their exchange for our warriors who are being held captive in Russia,” Zelensky wrote on X.
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For “those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, there may be other options available”, he added.
Pyongyang has become Moscow’s main ally during its offensive in Ukraine, which has dragged on for nearly three years.
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