He made the comments days after Ukraine began pressing new attacks in Kursk to retain ground captured in a lightning incursion in August that resulted in the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II.
Moscow's counter-attack has left Ukrainian forces outstretched and demoralised, killing and wounding thousands and retaking more than 40 per cent of the 984 square kilometres of Kursk Ukraine had seized.
Our soldiers have captured North Korean military personnel in the Kursk region. Two soldiers, though wounded, survived and were transported to Kyiv, where they are now communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine.— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) This was not an easy task: Russian forces and other North… pic.twitter.com/5J0hqbarP6January 11, 2025
"Our soldiers have captured North Korean soldiers in Kursk. These are two soldiers who, although wounded, survived, were taken to Kyiv, and are communicating" with Ukrainian security services, Zelenskiy said.
He shared photos of two men resting on cots in a room with bars over the windows.
Both wore bandages, one around his jaw and the other around both hands and wrists.
Zelenskiy said capturing the soldiers alive was "not easy".
He asserted that Russian and North Korean forces fighting in Kursk have tried to conceal the presence of North Korean soldiers, including by killing wounded comrades on the battlefield to avoid their capture and interrogation by Kyiv.
Ukraine's security service SBU on Saturday said one of the soldiers had no documents at all, while the other had been carrying a Russian military ID card in the name of a man from Tuva, a Russian region bordering Mongolia.
According to the SBU, one of the soldiers claimed he had been told he was going to Russia for training, rather than to fight against Ukraine.
He said his combat unit, made up of North Koreans, only received one week of training alongside Russian troops before being sent to the front.
A senior Ukrainian military official said last month that a couple of hundred North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian forces in Kursk have been killed or wounded in battle.
The official was providing the first significant estimate of North Korean casualties, which came several weeks after Ukraine announced that Pyongyang had sent 10,000 to 12,000 troops to Russia to help it in its almost three-year war against its much smaller neighbour.
The White House and Pentagon last month confirmed that the North Korean forces have been battling on the front lines in largely infantry positions.
They have been fighting with Russian units and, in some cases, independently around Kursk.
Meanwhile, Zelenskiy has spoken to US President Joe Biden following the announcement of a new US sanctions package on Russia's critically important energy sector, according to Zelenskiy's Telegram account.
The sanctions target more than 180 oil-carrying vessels that are suspected to be part of a shadow fleet used by the Kremlin to evade oil sanctions, as well as Russian energy majors, traders, oil field service firms and energy officials.
Several of the vessels targeted are also suspected of shipping sanctioned Iranian oil, according to the Treasury Department.
"It is very important that America has now struck at Russia's shadow tanker fleet and at companies such as Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, which accumulate money for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin personally. He must feel the price of his war, losing from his wallets," Zelenskiy said, referencing two Russian energy giants blacklisted along with dozens of subsidiaries.
In response to the sanctions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that "Washington's hostile actions will not go unanswered" but did not provide details of any planned countermeasures.
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