Ukraine simplifies recruitment of mercenaries
The Ukrainian government has simplified the recruitment process for non-citizens in its army, authorizing officials to arrange and pay for their transportation, food, and accommodation, according to lawmakers.
Kiev is struggling to enforce mandatory conscription amid the conflict with Russia as many Ukrainian men evade the draft. Foreign
'volunteers'
– viewed by Moscow as mercenaries – have complemented domestic manpower shortages in the Ukrainian military, with recruitment efforts intensifying.
On Tuesday, MPs Aleksey Goncharenko and Taras Meinichuk announced policy changes that authorize Ukrainian recruitment centers to transport foreign nationals and stateless persons across the border. The Defense Ministry and National Guard can now fund such trips from their budgets, according to the officials.
Moscow regards non-Ukrainians serving in Kiev's military as criminals, not covered by the protections normally granted to combatants. Following reports of foreign fighters being involved in the Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk Region, President Vladimir Putin warned in March that
'mercenaries are not protected by the 1949 Geneva Convention on POWs.'
READ MORE:
Foreign mercenaries continue to die in the Ukraine conflict: RT takes a closer look at who is fighting for Kiev (VIDEO)
Russian officials have claimed that some mercenaries are unofficially deployed by their home governments to operate complex Western-supplied weaponry or to advise Ukrainian officers.
This week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said a recent strike on Sumy targeted Ukrainian military leaders during a meeting with
'Western colleagues.'
He insisted that
'there are NATO servicemen there, and they are directly in charge'
of Ukrainian operations.
Extensive recent reports in US and British media have described the significant involvement of both nations' militaries in directing the Ukraine conflict, surpassing official acknowledgments by their governments. Coverage from the New York Times and The Times of London appeared to substantiate Moscow's position that the conflict is a NATO proxy war against Russia.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
4 hours ago
- Russia Today
Kiev sends the living to die, but won't accept its dead
It is sad, but peace remains elusive in the war between, on one side, Ukraine and – through Ukraine – the West and, on the other, Russia. Recently, the US has at least admitted that Moscow has plausible and important interests at stake and that the West has been using Ukraine to fight a proxy war against Russia. While very late and still incomplete, such truthfulness could help fashion the kind of realistic compromise needed to end this war. Yet Washington's European vassals have chosen this moment to discover their usually terminally atrophied capacity for talking back to the US: They clearly want the war to continue, even though that means Ukraine – about which they pretend to care – will lose even more people and territory. Against this backdrop, it was no wonder that the latest round of the renewed Istanbul talks between Russia and Ukraine produced no breakthrough, little progress, and only very modest concrete results. Also, on the eve of the talks, the Zelensky regime launched terror attacks on civilian trains in western Russia and a series of sneak drone strikes throughout the country that – in the most generous reading – involved the war crime of perfidy: That, obviously, did not help find a way forward either. Indeed, by now it is clear that Kiev's sneak drone attacks in particular have only further undermined the Zelensky regime's already fragile standing in Washington: US President Donald Trump has been explicit that he accepts Russia's right to massively retaliate, or, in the original Trumpese, 'bomb the hell' out of Ukraine. Luckily for Ukraine, Moscow is generally more restrained than America would be in a similar situation, and it should stay so. Yet the fact remains, Kiev's sneak drones have made no substantial military difference in its favor, but they have done significant political damage – to Kiev, that is. Regarding the Istanbul talks, it is likely that these assaults were meant to torpedo them. Yet Moscow did not fall for that rather transparent play. Its delegation turned up; so the Ukrainian one had to do the same. In addition, Russia ended this round of the negotiations with several good-will gestures, including an agreement to exchange POWs who are particularly young or in bad health and the offer to hand over the frozen (a common practice in war) bodies of 6,000 fallen Ukrainians. Both initiatives have run into trouble. To be precise, both are being impeded by the Ukrainian leadership. The POW swap has been delayed, and Ukrainian officials have failed to show up at the border to receive the first 1,212 of their deceased soldiers. Regarding both, Kiev has blamed Russia. Yet, remarkably, the Ukrainian statements, in reality, prove that it is indeed Kiev that is – at the very least – slowing these processes down. For what Ukrainian officials are really accusing Russia of is moving faster. The reasons for this obstructionism are unclear. The Ukrainian authorities have not shared them with the public. But there are some plausible guesses. One very likely reason why Kiev is reluctant to accept the 6,000 bodies of its own fallen soldiers is that the 'preponderant majority' of them, according to a Ukrainian member of parliament, were killed specifically during Ukraine's insane and predictably catastrophic incursion into Russia's Kursk region. Started on August 6 of last year, the operation was initially hyped by Ukrainian propagandists and their accomplices and useful idiots in the West. For the clear-eyed, it was obvious from the beginning that this was a mass kamikaze mission, wasting Ukrainian lives for no military or political advantage. Was the Zelensky regime trying to create a territorial 'bargaining chip'? Or once more 'shift the narrative,' as if wars are won by rewriting a movie script? Influence last year's US elections? Prepare for a possible victory by then presidential candidate Donald Trump? All of the above? We don't know. What we do know is that nothing Kiev may have fantasized about has worked. Indeed, by now the Kursk fiasco has only made Kiev's situation worse. Russia has retaken the territory in Kursk Region that Ukraine had seized and is advancing on the Ukrainian side of the border, taking settlements at an accelerating pace and getting close to the major regional city of Sumy. Clearly, those fallen during that particular suicide mission are evidence of Kiev's recklessness, hypocrisy, and incompetence. No wonder they seem to be less than welcome at home. A second reason for Kiev's reluctance may be even more sordid. There is speculation, for instance on social media, that it is financial. More importantly, a Russian diplomat, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, has made the same claim on the Telegram channel of the Izvestiia newspaper. For according to Ukrainian legislation, the families of the fallen soldiers are entitled to substantial compensation. Painful as it may be to acknowledge it, the Zelensky regime is not incapable of such a massive lack of piety. Whatever the precise reasons for Kiev's odd refusal to take back its prisoners and dead, they are certain to be base. This may jar with the West's well-organized and stubbornly delusional Zelensky fan club. But the best they could do for 'ordinary' Ukrainians is to put pressure on their worn-out idol to accept the prisoners and the fallen. And, of course to finally end the war.
Russia Today
7 hours ago
- Russia Today
NATO to limit Ukraine discussions to avoid provoking Trump
NATO is going to keep discussions of Ukraine 'short' at its upcoming annual summit in the Netherlands in order to avoid provoking US President Donald Trump, Reuters has reported, citing the organizers of the event. The summit is scheduled to take place in The Hague on June 24 and 25. Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky, who had once been a regular guest of honor at NATO events following the escalation of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022, has not been officially invited to attend yet. The European NATO members are 'desperate to avoid upsetting a volatile Trump' during the summit, Reuters said in an article on Friday. According to the sources, the written statement summarizing the results of the event is expected to be 'unusually short' in order to reduce the chance of disagreements. Whether the document 'will even identify Russia as a threat or express support for Ukraine is still up in the air,' they said. Unlike the two previous years, the leaders of the bloc's member states do not plan to hold a formal meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council as part of the summit, the officials said. According to a diplomat from the bloc, it could be replaced by a working dinner with either foreign or defense ministers. Another senior NATO diplomat told Reuters that it would be 'at least a PR disaster' if Zelenskiy does not attend the summit in some form. According to the sources, the Ukrainian leader would have to settle for an invitation to a pre-summit dinner, hosted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander. This way, he could travel to The Hague without angering Trump, they explained. The US president, who is trying to broker an end to the fighting between Moscow and Kiev, had previously ruled out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO. Russia has repeatedly stated that moves towards admitting the country into the bloc would be crossing a red line and have been one of the key reasons for the conflict, insisting that Ukraine should adopt a neutral status as a key condition for a lasting peace. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Trump, who had a public spat with Zelensky at the Oval Office in February, 'reserves special animosity' for the Ukrainian leader and considers him 'a bad guy.'
Russia Today
7 hours ago
- Russia Today
Ukraine halts prisoner swap
Kiev has postponed a previously agreed prisoner swap with Moscow, according to Russian Lt. Gen. Alexander Zorin, speaking for the Defense Ministry. The trade would also include the repatriation of over 6,000 bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers, he added in a statement published on Saturday. 'Russia handed over to the Ukrainian side a list of 640 names, but the latter is so far refraining from setting a date for the return of these individuals,' said Zorin, who was a member of Moscow's negotiating team in Istanbul. He explained that the exchange agreement covers two groups of prisoners – an 'all-for-all' swap of wounded and critically ill, and those under 25 years old. DETAILS TO FOLLOW
