Ukraine’s forces have captured two North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk border region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday, the first such claim by Kyiv since North Korea sent thousands of troops to shore up Moscow's war effort on the other side of the world.

Two wounded North Korean soldiers have been captured as prisoners of war by Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. The two men are receiving "necessary medical assistance" and are in the custody of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Kyiv, according to Zelensky.

The wounded fighters were taken to Kyiv for questioning, authorities said, where they could reveal details of Pyongyang’s cooperation with Moscow.