🏴 Capture

Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) captured a North Korean soldier as a POW in Kursk Oblast on January 9 - the first North Korean POW captured by Ukraine.

Viktorovka, Kursk Oblast
Verified Independently confirmed by 5 sources
Institute for the Study of War Kyiv Independent Kyiv Post UNIAN Censor.NET

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Ukrainian SSO captured a North Korean soldier in Kursk Oblast on January 9

Kyiv Independent → Source tone: certain

Ukrainian forces have continued fighting in Kursk Oblast, seeking to retain it as leverage for future negotiations

Kyiv Post → Source tone: likely

A Russian or North Korean soldier was struck by an FPV drone near Viktorovka.

UNIAN → Source tone: likely

Military analyst Alexei Getman stated that Russian occupiers will likely attract additional forces to Kursk because the situation is unacceptable for them and represents a weak point in their defense.

Censor.NET → Source tone: certain

Two North Korean soldiers were captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.

Censor.NET → Source tone: certain

One soldier was captured on January 9, 2025, by the 84th Special Forces tactical group.

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Extraction metadata

Extracted: 2026-05-30T04:15:38.977Z

Source story: russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-january-11-2025