France denies Russian claim of mercenaries in Ukraine
Al Jazeera
Moscow said on Wednesday that its forces had carried out a strike on a building housing ‘foreign fighters’ in Kharkiv.
France has denied Russia’s claim that there were French mercenaries in Ukraine after Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its troops had killed “foreign fighters” earlier this week.
“France helps Ukraine with supplies of military material and military training, in full compliance with international law, in order to help Ukraine in its fight to defend its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity,” France’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs said on Thursday.
“France has no mercenaries, neither in Ukraine nor elsewhere, unlike certain others,” it added.
On Thursday, Russia also summoned French ambassador to Moscow, Pierre Levy, to its foreign ministry regarding the alleged French mercenaries, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
“In connection with the destruction by the Russian armed forces of a temporary deployment point of foreign fighters in Kharkiv, among whom were several dozen Frenchmen, the French ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was cited as saying.
