Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that 16,000 foreign mercenaries are going to fight for Ukraine.
He argued in a video message on Thursday that "Ukraine is meeting the first foreign volunteers" as they are on their way to the country in order "to protect its freedom".
Zelensky spoke after the Japanese newspaper Mainichi quoted an unnamed source as saying on Wednesday that about 70 volunteers from Japan are set to join the ranks of mercenaries in the "foreign legion" of Ukraine.
The source asserted that the volunteers include 50 former servicemen from the Japan Self-Defence Forces.
The Ukrainian president's Thursday remarks come after he called on foreign nationals who are "friends of peace and democracy" to travel to his country and fight against what he described as a "Russian invasion".
He added that "anyone who wants to join the defence of Ukraine, Europe, and the world" should "come and fight side by side with Ukrainians" against the Russian military. According to Zelensky, the Ukrainian armed forces are currently in the process of setting up a foreign legion unit for international volunteers.
Russia's Special Operation in Ukraine
On 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a special military operation in Ukraine to protect the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) from Kiev's forces following their request for assistance amid growing attacks by the Ukrainian Army on their positions and infrastructure.
He underscored that the operation aims "to protect people who have been subjected to abuse, genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years", adding that for this purpose, Russia "will strive to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine, as well as bring to justice those who committed numerous bloody crimes against peaceful residents, including citizens of the Russian Federation".
Russia's Defence Ministry, in turn, stressed that the nation's high-precision strikes targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure do not pose a threat to the civilian population. On Wednesday, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that DPR and LPR forces, with fire support from the Russian military, continue their offensive on Ukrainian Army units, taking control of more settlements.
In a separate development, a second round of talks between Moscow and Kiev to resolve the Ukraine crisis is expected in the Brest region of Belarus later on Thursday. Earlier in the week, the head of the Russian delegation and presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky told reporters that during the first round of the talks both sides focused on "all the items on the agenda and found some common points", on which they "predict common positions" can be built.