Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine/via APT / Deutsche Welle
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky called on Saturday for the mothers of Russian soldiers to prevent their children from being sent to “war” in Ukraine.
“I want to say once again to Russian mothers. Particularly the mothers of the recruits. Don’t send your children to war in a foreign country,” Zelensky declared in a new video on Telegram.
“Check where your son is . And if you have the slightest suspicion that your son may have been sent to war against Ukraine, act immediately” to prevent him from being killed or captured, he said.
“Ukraine has never wanted this terrible war. And Ukraine does not want it. But he will defend himself as much as necessary”, he added.
Called up
On Wednesday, Russia acknowledged for the first time the presence of conscripts in Ukraine and announced that a part were taken prisoner. Until now, Moscow defended that it had only sent professional soldiers.
This announcement was made while requests for help on social networks from mothers without news are increasing of their sons sent to the front.
In the conflict between Moscow and the Chechen independence fighters over the years 1990 and 2000, numerous young Russian conscripts were sent to fight and some were captured.
Their mothers mobilized for them to return alive or to recover their bodies, a movement that fueled the anti-war protests in Russia.
mg (afp, Telegram)