By Max Hunder

(Reuters) – Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers in Russia’s Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday, the first time Ukraine has announced the capture of North Korean soldiers alive since their entered the war last fall.

Regular North Korean troops entered the war on Russia’s side in October, according to Kyiv and its western allies, which initially estimated their numbers at 10,000 or more.

In a post on X, Zelenskiy said the soldiers were brought to Kyiv and communicated with the Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s domestic intelligence agency.

“Like all prisoners of war, these two North Korean soldiers received the necessary medical assistance,” Zelenskiy said. He said that journalists will be given access to talk to them.

Kyiv says North Korean troops are fighting in the Kursk region, where Ukraine launched an invasion in August. Kyiv says it still controls several hundred square kilometers of territory there.

Pyongyang has also supplied Russia with large amounts of artillery shells, according to Kyiv and its western allies.

Ukraine previously said it had captured North Korean soldiers in the fighting, but they were seriously injured and died shortly afterwards.