N. Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian army die of wounds, Zelensky says
Several North Korean soldier captured by the Ukrainian military have died of their injuries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday. Thousands of North Korean troops are believed to have been deployed in Russia's Kursk region to repel a Ukrainian incursion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that "several" wounded North Korean soldiers died after being captured by Ukrainian forces, as he accused Russia of throwing them into battle with "minimal protection".
Ukraine and its western allies say North Korea has sent thousands of soldiers to support Russia's army, in what is seen as a major escalation in the nearly three-year war following Moscow's 2022 invasion.
"Today there were reports about several soldiers from North Korea. Our soldiers managed to take them prisoner. But they were very seriously wounded and could not be resuscitated," Zelensky said in an evening address posted on social media.
South Korea's spy agency said earlier on Friday that a North Korean soldier who was captured while fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine had died of his wounds.
Zelensky did not specify how many North Koreans had died after being captured by Ukrainian troops.
Zelensky had earlier said that nearly 3,000 North Korean soldiers had been "killed or wounded" so far as they joined Russia's forces in combat in its western Kursk border region, where Ukraine mounted a shock incursion in August.
Pyongyang's involvement in Russia's war against Ukraine had prompted warnings from Seoul.
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