In his
United Nations General Assembly speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
announced that Ukraine transferred two North Korean prisoners of war—captured
alive in Russia's Kursk region in January 2025 while fighting for Moscow to
South Korea at their request.
He highlighted their brainwashing, noting how one attempted suicide upon capture, to argue against giving Pyongyang more combat experience amid its deployment of 14,000 to 15,000 troops.
Zelenskyy also detailed Russia's heavy losses of nearly 249,000 soldiers from January to August this year while gaining just over 1,000 square kilometers, urging stronger global measures to cut Moscow's war funding.