Moscow already helped by Pyongyang; Zelenskyy says fighters from China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and African also on board.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that his country’s troops in the northeast are battling foreign “mercenaries” recruited by Russia from various countries, vowing to “respond”.
The Ukrainian president visited front-line troops in the Kharkiv region on Monday, hearing reports from his “warriors” that fighters from China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and African countries were on board with Russia.
Russia is already known to have been assisted by thousands of North Korean troops in the defence of its Kursk region, and Ukraine had already accused Moscow of recruiting Chinese fighters – a charge denied by Beijing.
At the time of reporting, there was no comment from the additional countries accused by Zelenskyy of joining Russia’s war effort.
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said there was no way of verifying Zelenskyy’s claims.
Conversely, he added, “lots of foreign fighters” had also volunteered to fight for Ukraine and were still on the front lines.
Zelenskyy had met front-line fighters with Ukraine’s 17th Separate Motorised Infantry Battalion of the 57th Brigade near the front-line town of Vovchansk.
He said in a post in X that he had held discussions with commanders on “the frontline situation, the defence of Vovchansk, and the dynamics of the battles”, and was also looking at “drone supply and deployment, recruitment, and direct funding for the brigades”.
As Ukraine battled to repel Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, its troops were also engaged in “ongoing heavy fighting” around the town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, said Stratford.
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As fighting has continued, Russian and Ukrainian officials have held several meetings in recent months in Istanbul, Turkiye.
The latest meeting secured an agreement to exchange 1,200 prisoners, Zelenskyy announced on Sunday.
That day, United States President Donald Trump said his special envoy Steve Witkoff would fly to Russia to continue talks on the war in Ukraine.
On Monday, Russian state news agency TASS cited sources saying the visit would take place on Wednesday.
Trump has threatened to impose “very severe tariffs” on Russia if it fails to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine soon, recently shortening his initial deadline of 50 days to within 10-12 days.