Foreign Ministry refutes allegations about Ukrainian mercenaries in Syria

Reports that Ukrainian mercenaries are involved in military operations against government forces in Syria are untrue, Deputy Director of the Information Policy Department of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Vasyl Zvarych has told Ukrinform.

"We have repeatedly made statements that there are no Ukrainian mercenaries in Syria. We proceed from the fact that there are no official documents that would confirm that Ukrainians are fighting against government troops in Syria," he said.

As reported, Grand Mufti of Syria Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun said on Sunday that mercenaries from 83 countries, including 350 Ukrainians, were fighting against government forces in Syria. He said that in Syria there were 5,000-8,000 militants from Saudi Arabia (including 1,019 killed and 1,800), 1,700 from Chechnya (717 killed), 360 from Turkmenistan, 350 from Ukraine, 250 from Kazakhstan, 190 from Tajikistan, 100 from Azerbaijan, 80 from Georgia, 4,000 from Tunisia, 3,000 from Iraq, 290 from the United States, and 120 from Canada.