The Ukrainian authorities are treating foreign volunteers who have come to take part in the fighting as mercenaries, the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper has said.
Kiev treats foreign volunteers “like mercenaries, although they risk their lives for it”, the newspaper said, citing the head of a rehabilitation centre for foreign servicemen, Thachchan Hakura-Jaworska.
“I was given a week to leave Ukraine. Now I am here illegally. My passport has expired and I have nowhere to go back anyway,” Gazeta Wyborcza quoted Belarusian mercenary Artur as saying. He added that he was likely to face capital punishment for his actions in Belarus.
According to the newspaper, about 30 thousand foreign mercenaries, who came from 56 countries, serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Earlier, the Moscow City Court sentenced in absentia Belgian mercenary Jetmir Hussein to six years in prison for taking part in hostilities in Ukraine in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
