Ukrainian authorities on Saturday announced the capture of two North Korean soldiers in Russia, saying they were the first to be captured alive since Pyongyang sent troops to help Moscow in its war effort.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the two soldiers, who were wounded, were captured in the Kursk region of western Russia, where Ukrainian troops fought to hold territory captured during a surprise cross-border incursion last summer.

In a post on various social media channels, Mr. Zelensky said the soldiers received medical care, as required by the Geneva Conventions, and were taken to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, for questioning.

Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service, the SBU, said one of the soldiers was captured on Thursday. He did not give details of where he was, or say when the other was captured, but said they were the first North Koreans fighting against Ukraine in Kursk to be captured.

The interrogations are being conducted through Korean interpreters in coordination with the South Korean intelligence service, according to the SBU. The South Korean embassy in Ukraine did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Russia nor North Korea had an immediate comment.

Ukrainian intelligence agency and Mr. Zelensky shared photos and videos of the two soldiers, showing one with bandages around his jaw and the other with his hands in bandages.

Under the rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions, governments are supposed to protect a prisoner of war from becoming a “public curiosity,” a concept that sometimes interpreted as not representing them in any public setting.

Fierce fighting rages in Kursk as Russian forces try to crush Ukrainian troops and drive them back across the border. Reinforced by more than 11,000 North Korean soldiersRussian troops have recaptured roughly half of the territory they lost in the area.

But Ukraine remained on more than 150 square miles of land inside Russia. The White House said North Korean forces were suffering heavy losses.

Last month, the Biden administration said more than 1,000 North Korean soldiers was killed or wounded fighting Ukrainian troops in Kursk for a week – with some choosing suicide over surrender.