{"id":159517,"date":"2025-08-05T06:31:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T06:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-mercenaries-from-china-pakistan-and-africa-fighting-for-moscow-claims-zelensky-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T06:31:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T06:31:53","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-latest-mercenaries-from-china-pakistan-and-africa-fighting-for-moscow-claims-zelensky-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-latest-mercenaries-from-china-pakistan-and-africa-fighting-for-moscow-claims-zelensky-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war latest: Mercenaries from China, Pakistan and Africa fighting for Moscow, claims Zelensky – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kremlin advises caution about nuclear rhetoric after Donald Trump orders repositioning of US nuclear submarines
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Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> vowed a response after claiming that \u201cmercenaries\u201d from China<\/a>, Pakistan<\/a> and some Africa<\/a> nations were fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine<\/a>.
“We spoke with commanders about the frontline situation, the defence of Vovchansk, and the dynamics of the battles,” the Ukrainian president said on X after visiting a frontline area in the northeastern Kharkiv<\/a> region.
“Our warriors in this sector are reporting the participation of mercenaries from China, Tajikistan<\/a>, Uzbekistan<\/a>, Pakistan, and African countries in the war. We will respond.”
The Kremlin<\/a>, meanwhile, urged caution about nuclear rhetoric after Donald Trump<\/a> ordered a repositioning of US nuclear submarines<\/a>.
Kremlin<\/a> spokesperson Dmitry Peskov<\/a> played down the significance of Mr Trump’s announcement last Friday that he had ordered two submarines<\/a> to be moved to “the appropriate regions”<\/a>.
“In this case, it is obvious that American submarines are already on combat duty. This is an ongoing process, that\u2019s the first thing,” Mr Peskov said. “Of course, we believe that everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric.”
Foreign \u201cmercenaries\u201d from China, Pakistan and parts of Africa are fighting alongside Russian forces in Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine, the war-hit country\u2019s president Volodymyr Zelensky said, vowing a response.
“We spoke with commanders about the frontline situation, the defence of Vovchansk, and the dynamics of the battles,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X after visiting a frontline area in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
“Our warriors in this sector are reporting the participation of mercenaries from China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and African countries in the war. We will respond,\u201d Mr Zelensky said yesterday.
The Ukrainian president has previously accused Moscow of recruiting Chinese fighters for its war effort against Ukraine, charges Beijing denied, and had issued the first signs of North Korean soldiers fighting Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region.
Embassies of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan in Kyiv have not issued a comment immediately.
Finland’s president Alexander Stubb held a phone call with his American counterpart Donald Trump to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine, expressing support for all efforts towards an immediate ceasefire.
Mr Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its oil, including India and China, unless president Vladimir Putin agrees by Friday to end the three-and-a-half-year-old war in Ukraine.
“President Trump\u2019s deadline for a ceasefire is approaching. Finland supports all efforts towards an immediate ceasefire. Longterm negotiations must lead to a lasting and just peace,” Stubb said in a post on X.
Stubb added that his call with Trump also covered ongoing discussions about icebreakers.
In June, Trump mentioned the US is negotiating the purchase of 15 icebreakers from Finland.
“Finland has built 60 percent of the world\u2019s icebreakers. We have the capacity to build them reliably and fast,” Stubb said in his post.
Trump has consistently advocated for the US to acquire as many as 40 new icebreakers to enhance national security in the Arctic. The icebreakers could help companies with logistics and keep open supply lines for potential oil and gas and mineral development in the rugged and frigid region.
Two children were among several people injured in Russia’s largest air attack on the Ukrainian town of Lozova since the war began, the head of the local administration said this morning.
“Critical infrastructure, apartment buildings and private homes have been damaged,” said Serhiy Zelensky, the head of the city’s council.
“Lozova has endured the largest attack since the beginning of the war,” he said, adding several people including two children were wounded in the town in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv.
The scale of the attack on the town, which had a pre-war population of about 55,000, was not immediately clear.
The Kharkiv region, which lies near the border with Russia, has been the target of regular Russian drone and missile attacks since the start of the war.
Parts of Lozova, a town in the southern parts of the Kharkiv region, were left without power and water supply, Mr Zelensky said. “We will persevere!” he added.
Steve Witkoff, the New York real estate developer turned roving peace envoy for president Donald Trump<\/a>, is heading to Russia<\/a> this week for yet another round of talks with officials in Moscow with an eye towards pushing Russian president Vladimir Putin<\/a> to end his years-long war against Ukraine<\/a>.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that Witkoff, who has also been tasked with serving as a mediator in the Israel-Hamas conflict, would be traveling to Russia on either Tuesday or Wednesday for meetings ahead of Friday\u2019s deadline for Moscow to call off the war or face more US sanctions.
Asked what Putin could do to avoid harsh penalties, including secondary tariffs on goods from countries that purchase Russian oil, he told reporters: \u201cGet a deal where people stop getting killed.\u201d
But the president also expressed skepticism that new sanctions could hurt Russia\u2019s economy, citing Moscow\u2019s demonstrated ability to evade them.
An overnight Ukrainian drone attack sparked several fires, including at a power substation, in the southern Russian region of Rostov, the acting regional governor said this morning.
There were no injuries as a result of the attack and the fire at the substation on an area of about 500 square metres (5,400 square feet) has been extinguished, Rostov’s acting governor Yuri Slyusar said on his Telegram channel.
Russia\u2019s defence ministry said its defence units destroyed a total of 24 Ukrainian drones overnight, including seven over the Rostov region, which has been a frequent target of Ukraine’s strikes.
Russian defence ministry only reports the number of downed drones and not how many total drones are launched by Ukraine.
A top aide to Donald Trump<\/a> accused India<\/a> of aiding Vladimir Putin<\/a>\u2019s war in Ukraine<\/a> by purchasing Russian <\/a>oil as tensions between New Delhi and Washington soared over ties with Moscow<\/a>.
India is lately facing relentless American pressure over its relations with Russia, a longstanding defence and trade partner.
Just last week, Mr Trump threatened New Delhi with unspecified penalties <\/a>over and above a new 25 per cent import tariff <\/a>for buying oil and weapons from Russia.
Mr Trump, who had listed ending the war in Ukraine<\/a> a top priority for his second presidential term, has been threatening sanctions on countries trading with Moscow after accusing Mr Putin of stalling ceasefire talks. The US president has also resumed sending weapons to Ukraine.
India is the biggest buyer of seaborne crude from Russia, importing about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil from January to June this year, up 1 per cent from a year ago, according to data provided to Reuters by trade sources.
India began importing oil from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, the Indian spokesperson said, calling it a “necessity compelled by global market situation.”
The spokesperson also noted the West’s, particularly the European Union’s, bilateral trade with Russia: “It is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia.”
Despite the Indian government’s defiance, the country’s main refiners paused buying Russian oil last week, sources told Reuters. Discounts to other suppliers narrowed after Trump threatened hefty tariffs on countries that make any such purchases.
Indian government officials denied any policy change.
The country’s largest refiner, Indian Oil Corp, has bought 7 million barrels of crude from the United States, Canada and the Middle East, four trade sources told Reuters on Monday.
The unpredictability of the Trump administration creates a challenge for Delhi, said Richard Rossow, head of the India program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
“India’s continued energy and defence purchases from Russia presents a larger challenge, where India does not feel it can predict how the Trump administration will approach Russia from month to month,” he said.
US president Donald Trump has again threatened to raise tariffs on goods from India over its Russian oil purchases as the trade rift between the two countries deepens.
Last week, Trump has said that from Friday he will impose new sanctions on Russia as well as on countries that buy its energy exports, unless Moscow takes steps to end its war with Ukraine.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has shown no public sign of altering his stance despite the deadline.
In a social media post, Trump wrote, “India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits. They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine.”
“Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA,” he added.
A spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry said in response that India will “take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”
“The targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable,” the spokesperson added.
Russia is reportedly stepping up efforts to launch more drone attacks on Ukraine from occupied territories, according to new satellite analysis.
A Ukrainian Telegram channel said imagery from July shows construction work at Donetsk City airport in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.
Fortifications on the runway have been partially cleared, and workers appear to be preparing parking areas, possibly for fuel tanks, according to the reports shared by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Ukrainian open-source intelligence group CyberBoroshno added that the images suggest Russian forces are building closed storage near the destroyed terminal, as well as manual drone control points, warhead unloading areas, and surveillance posts.
CyberBoroshno assessed that the site could soon be used to launch Shahed-type attack drones, Gerbera decoy drones and potentially Geran (Shahed) jet-powered drones.
Using long-range drones from areas closer to the frontline could shorten the response time for Ukrainian air defences, the group warned.
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