The Embassy of Uzbekistan in Kyiv sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine regarding information about the presence of Uzbeks in the ranks of Russian troops in the Donetsk Oblast.

“The embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Ukraine sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of this country regarding the information published by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine about the forced mobilization of citizens of the Republic of Uzbekistan as volunteers to the ranks of the Russian army.

This matter is under permanent control by the diplomatic mission, and if the above information is confirmed by Ukraine, all necessary measures will be taken to protect the interests of our citizens,” the report reads.

Earlier, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that there were Uzbek citizens in the units of the Russian occupation forces located in the occupied city of Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast. They illegally crossed the Ukrainian border and came to Mariupol to work in construction. But after that, their passports were confiscated and they were mobilized as volunteers to the Russian army.

Later, the Ukrainian embassy in Tashkent called on the citizens of Uzbekistan not to participate in Russia’s war against this country and not to go to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.