Ukraine War: Kyiv apparently takes Indonesians prisoner for the first time

As the Ukrainian government project “I want to live” reported on Telegram, a 49-year-old originally from the island of Java was the first Indonesian to be caught by Ukraine. The project is aimed at Russian army members who want to voluntarily surrender and go into Ukrainian captivity in order to avoid death on the battlefield.

The Indonesian actually traveled to Russia to work in the construction sector and was apparently supposed to work in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. However, when he wanted to flee the region, he was arrested and forcibly recruited, it is said. The man also had an identification number tattooed on his chest. From then on, the man was under Russian command without any preparation for combat operations in the Zaporizhia region.

It has been known for years that Russia is relying on foreign support in its fight against Ukraine. At least temporarily, thousands of North Korean soldiers are said to have fought alongside the Russians. A number of North Koreans have been taken prisoner by Ukraine since the start of the war. Dealing with them has also been straining Ukraine's relationship with South Korea for some time.

Relations with South Korea are easing

South Korea recalled its ambassador in October after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported to the UN General Assembly that his country had transferred two North Korean prisoners of war to South Korea. From Seoul's perspective, the announcement represented a breach of the agreement according to which the prisoner transfer should remain secret in order to protect North Korean soldiers and their families from repression in their homeland.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha later attributed the scandal to different interpretations of the confidentiality agreement. In the meantime, however, the badly damaged diplomatic relationship appears to have improved somewhat. According to Ukrainian media, Sybiha said he had a “good meeting” with his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Paris.

He is convinced that “we are now facing the next series of measures to finally normalize bilateral relations,” said Sybiha