Ukrainian servicemen. File photoMOSCOW, June 8Foreign citizens and stateless persons who participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine as part of Ukrainian regular units receive the status of combatants, as well as the right to be treated as prisoners of war, the press service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported. «All foreign citizens and persons without citizens who take part in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine as part of the armed forces of Ukraine, were voluntarily accepted for military service under a contract in accordance with the Law of Ukraine «On military duty and military service» of 1992. The persons concerned are members of the armed forces of Ukraine, on which, according to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977, the legal status of combatants is extended,» the message says. >The British mercenary told how he arrived in UkraineThe press service of the department also clarified that this status, among other things, gives such persons the right to be treated as prisoners of war if captured. The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said earlier that » The mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine are not combatants, the best thing that awaits them is a long term in prison.» He noted that foreign mercenaries do not have the status of combatants under international humanitarian law. The British Sean Pinner and Aiden Aslin surrendered in Mariupol in mid-April. At the end of last week, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Donetsk People's Republic announced the end of the investigation and the transfer of the criminal case against the British mercenary Aiden Aslin to the court, he may face the death penalty. On Tuesday, British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said that the government intends to protest in connection with the criminal case against Aslin. At the same time, Elena Shishkina, chairman of the committee on criminal and administrative legislation of the People's Council of the DPR, reported that foreign mercenaries who took part in the fighting actions in the Donbass on the side of the Ukrainian troops are not subject to exchange. 24 February. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass. Who is going to fight in Ukraine
