Zelenskyy warns 47 countries as Russia uses foreign recruits in Ukraine war

At the UN General Assembly, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is using citizens from 47 countries, including India, in the war against Ukraine. He urged governments to stop their nationals being drawn into the conflict and pressed for tighter curbs on trade with Moscow.

In Short

• Zelenskyy told the UN Russia is using citizens from 47 countries
• He named India, Nepal, Ghana and others among foreign recruits
• Ukraine receives requests to return captured foreign fighters to home countries

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told the UN General Assembly that Russia is using citizens of India and more than 40 other countries to fight in the war against Ukraine. In his address at the General Debate of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, he urged those countries not to let Russian President Vladimir Putin “drag you into this war”.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine has received prisoners of war from several countries, not just from North Korea, and claimed that people from 47 countries had been drawn into the conflict. He also thanked countries supporting Ukraine and called for tighter curbs on trade with Russia, saying that would hit Moscow’s ability to fund the war.

“...And right now, I want to speak not to Europe. I want to speak to those countries whose people Russia may try to use in another absolutely brutal campaign,” Zelenskyy said.

He said, “We know that Russia uses citizens of 47 countries in its war. In this war, Ghana, Nepal, Tajikistan, India, Yemen, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Belarus, Sudan, South Africa, and many, many others. And from time to time, we receive requests to send particular POWs (Prisoners of War) back home.”

Zelenskyy said Ukraine knows that people from other countries fighting in the war are dying on the battlefield. “We also see people dying on the battlefield, who are not Russians, people from your countries, 47 countries, who ended up in Russia through deception and tricks,” he said.

Appealing directly to representatives of those countries, he said, “You know what Russia is doing with your people, your citizens. Take care of them and do not let them end up on another front. Do not let (Russian President Vladimir) Putin drag you into this war. Do not let Russia put out its fires, cover up its shame, and pay for its madness with the lives of your people. Limit his room to act. Limit his money. Limit his war.”

Earlier this month, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had said the issue of Indian citizens being recruited into the Russian armed forces had been discussed between India and Russia “at various levels on various occasions”. “At last count, we had information about 227 Indian nationals who had been recruited into the Russian army,” Misri had said. “Out of that, we have information that 139 of our nationals have been discharged from the army. And unfortunately, of course, we have information also about 51 people who have perished so far.”

Zelenskyy also expressed gratitude to countries helping Ukraine and said sanctions, support packages and joint weapons production were important. “When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. That is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor, and why we are burning Russia’s revenues ourselves,” he said.

He added that the world had seen more than once how the abuse of the veto at the UN weakens the world and pushes peace further away. “When Russia has money, it always says no to diplomacy, and this is also a kind of veto on peaceAnd when someone in the world weakens sanctions against Russian oligarchs, it may make life more comfortable for rich Russians, but it also gives the war more time, more time for Putin to send poor people into the kill zone. So Russia’s revenues must remain a target. Russia’s budget deficit is now bigger than in any other year, and most Russian regions are already bankrupt,” he said.

Zelenskyy’s address combined an appeal to countries whose citizens have been recruited into the war with a renewed call for tighter economic pressure on Russia, saying both steps were needed to limit Moscow’s ability to continue the conflict.

With PTI Inputs

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