As Ukraine invades Russia’s Kursk region, where are Putin’s allies?

While Belarus’s Lukashenko has commented on the cross-border attacks, Central Asian nations stay mum.

Kyiv, Ukraine – Almost two years ago, a dozen Uzbek youngsters pleaded with their president to save them from the horrors of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Uzbek nationals enrolled in western Russia’s Kursk Medical University recorded a video address to Shavkat Mirziyoyev in October 2022 saying their studies had been affected by Kyiv’s shelling of nearby towns and the hostilities in the neighbouring Ukrainian region of Sumy.

“Please transfer us to medical schools in Uzbekistan,” one of the students said. Uzbek diplomats pledged to assess the situation.

There have been no further reports about their fate – just like Uzbekistan’s official response to one of the war’s most daring developments – Kyiv’s incursion into Kursk.