UPDATED: No pressure on Ukrainians living abroad to return and serve in military, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he does not want to pressure conscientious objectors who have fled abroad to return to the country, in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD, reported DPA agency.
 
“I’m definitely not calling on Olaf Scholz to bring them back quickly. We live in a democratic world,” he said in the interview on Sunday. He said Ukraine needed a “functioning law” to deal with conscientious objectors.

Ukraine is currently figuring out how to recruit more soldiers for the army. The military wants to mobilize 450,000 to 500,000 men. 

Men between the ages of 18 and 60 who are fit for military service have been asked not to leave the country, although some have managed to do so. The Ministry of Defense has been appealing to Ukrainian men living abroad to return and defend the country against Russia’s invasion.

Presently, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are registered as war refugees in several countries including Germany. 

In December, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann had emphasized that Ukraine’s mobilization plans would not impact Ukrainians living in Germany.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy voiced the danger of the Ukraine conflict escalating into World War Three, as he pressed his case for support from nations from Germany to the United States in an interview with German state broadcaster ARD on Sunday.

“It seems to me that the Chancellor (Olaf Scholz) is aware of this risk,” Zelenskiy said, adding that if Russia hit a NATO country, it would be “the beginning of the Third World War.”

Asked whether he was disappointed that Germany did not plan to supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles, Zelenskiy said he was only disappointed Germany had not played “the role it should have played in the first occupation of Ukraine”.

Referring to the weakness of the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014 that was a precursor for Moscow’s invasion in February 2022, he said it wasn’t just about the German response.

“It’s not just about Olaf Scholz,” he said. “It concerns European leaders and the U.S.”

In the U.S., Zelenskiy said Ukraine has support from across the political divide. “There are individual Republicans who do not support Ukraine, but the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans support Ukraine,” he said.

On whether a second term of Donald Trump in the White House would affect support for his country, he said U.S. policy does not depend on a single person.