Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on the mothers of Russian soldiers to prevent their sons from being sent to “war” in Ukraine.
“I want to say this once once more to Russian mothers. Particularly, to the mothers of conscripts. Do not send your children to war in a foreign country,” Mr. Zelensky said in a new video address broadcast on Telegram.
“Check where your son is. And if you have the slightest suspicion that your son might be sent to war once morest Ukraine, act immediately” to prevent him from being killed or captured, he said.
“Ukraine never wanted this terrible war. And Ukraine does not want it. But it will defend itself as much as necessary,” added the Ukrainian president.
AFP
On Wednesday, Russia for the first time acknowledged the presence of conscripts in Ukraine and announced that a number of them had been taken prisoner, Moscow claiming until then that only professional soldiers were fighting there.
This announcement came as calls from mothers without news of their sons sent to Ukraine multiplied on social networks.
For its part, Ukraine already last week invited the mothers of Russian soldiers captured on its territory to pick them up, Kiev claiming to have taken dozens of prisoners since the start of Moscow’s invasion of the country.
AFP
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense then published the phone numbers and an email through which mothers might obtain information regarding their sons who were prisoners in Ukraine.
During the conflict between Moscow and Chechen separatists in the 1990s and 2000s, many young Russian conscripts were sent to the front and some were taken prisoner.
Soldiers’ mothers then mobilized to bring them back alive or bring back their corpses, not hesitating to go there, a movement that had fueled anti-war protests in Russia.
