Ukraine offers POW exchange with North Korea to secure soldiers from Russian captivity, Kremlin reacts

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported this on Telegram.

"Alongside the first captured North Korean soldiers, there will undoubtedly be more. It's only a matter of time before our troops capture others. No one in the world should doubt that the Russian army relies on military assistance from North Korea. Three years ago, Putin started with ultimatums to NATO and attempts to rewrite history, and now he cannot do without military aid from Pyongyang," emphasized Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He also stated that "Ukraine is ready to transfer Kim Jong Un’s people to him if he can arrange their exchange for our soldiers who are held captive in Russia."

"For those North Korean soldiers who do not wish to return, there may be other options. Specifically, those Koreans who wish to promote peace by spreading the truth about this war in the Korean language will be given that opportunity," the President of Ukraine added.

Zelenskyy also shared a video of the interrogation of captured North Korean soldiers taken prisoner in the Kursk region.

Kremlin's reaction

On January 13, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that he could not comment on Zelenskyy's statement.

“We can't comment on it in any way, we don't know what is true, who offered what to whom,” Interfax quoted him as saying.

• Ukrainian forces captured two wounded DPRK soldiers in the Kursk region and brought them to Kyiv, where the SBU is interrogating them.