Neither Russia nor North Korea has claimed the soldiers as their own yet, while South Korea could accept them as defectors
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said he is ready to hand over two North Korean soldiers captured by Kyiv in exchange for the return of prisoners of war held in Russia. But the future of the two injured men, who have been interrogated in their hospital beds, is far from certain.
Speaking after South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirmed Ukraine’s claim that it had captured the two soldiers – part of a North Korean force estimated at 11,000 – Zelenskyy issued an important caveat.
