Ukraine Says Russian Troops Forcibly Recruiting Civilians

Ukraine accused Russian troops of forcibly recruiting civilians in occupied regions of the eastern part of the invaded country.

Besides young people, doctors were being targeted in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions, according to what Ukrainian military officials wrote on Facebook.

In the same vein, the UK's Ministry of Defense highlighted similar conscription practices in the Russian-occupied Donbas and Crimea.

"Any enlistment of Ukrainian civilians into the Russian armed forces, even if presented by Russia as being voluntary or military service in accordance with Russian law, would constitute a violation of Article 51 of the Fourth Geneva Convention," the UK Ministry of Defense wrote on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/DefenceHQ/status/1517956476211503105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1517956476211503105%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fukraine-zelenskyy-says-blinken-austin-will-visit-kyiv-live-updates%2Fa-61571371

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expecting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to visit Kyiv today, Sunday.

The encounter would be the highest-level visit by an American delegation since the start of the Russian- Ukrainian war two months ago.

Zelenskyy had high hopes for the meeting, noting that Ukraine was expecting more weapons to counter the Russian invasion. However, the White House, State Department, and Pentagon declined to comment.