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Russia-Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy urges Russians to defy 'criminal mobilization'

dw.com

Russia-Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy urges Russians to defy 'criminal mobilization'

The Ukrainian president has promised to protect Russian soldiers who voluntarily surrender. Meanwhile, pro-Russian authorities have accused Ukraine of targeting a hotel in Kherson. DW has the latest. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Russians who have been drafted as part of the partial mobilization to not join the invasion force in Ukraine. "It is better not to take a conscription letter than to die in a foreign land as a war criminal," he said during his nightly address late on Saturday. Zelenskyy also pledged to protect Russian soldiers who voluntarily surrender, saying they would be treated "in accordance with all conventions" and that they would not let it be known that the soldier had surrendered voluntarily. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed into law an amendment to the criminal code to increase jail time for those found to have committed voluntary surrender. The Ukrainian president also slammed Russia's "criminal mobilization," saying "Russian commanders do not care about the lives of Russians — they just need to replenish the empty spaces left by the dead, wounded, those who fled or the Russian soldiers that were captured."
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