Truss and Scholz speak with Zelensky to transfer their support to kyiv after the referendums in eastern Ukraine

MADRID, 28 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The British Prime Minister, Liz Truss, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have spoken this Wednesday by phone, in separate calls, with the Ukrainian President, Volodimir Zelenski, to transfer their support to kyiv in the face of the recent referendums held by the pro-Russian authorities in eastern Ukraine.

The German government explained on Wednesday in a statement that Scholz had conveyed to the Ukrainian president that Germany would not recognize the results of the referendums on accession to Russia of the four territories -- Donetsk, Lugansk, Jershon and Zaporiyia -- in the east of Ukraine.

"The chancellor emphasized that Germany will not stop providing political, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine, as well as in defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the supply of weapons," the German side added.

For its part, the United Kingdom has also joined the rejection of the referendums, while expressing, in a statement from 10 Downing Street, that kyiv will be able to depend on the support of the United Kingdom until the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, be "defeated".

"President Zelensky updated the prime minister on the current military situation and thanked her for her strong support, including at the UN General Assembly last week. (Truss) thanked the (Ukrainian) president for his work in securing the release of five citizens British held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine," he added.

The British Prime Minister was referring to the five prisoners of war released thanks to mediation and exchange between the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry and Russia. The prisoners are Aiden Aslin, Dylan Healy, John Harding, Shaun Pinner, and Andrew Hill.

It should be remembered that on June 9 the Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed republic of Donetsk sentenced to death British citizens Aiden Aslin, Sean Pinner, as well as Moroccan Sadun Brahim for participating as mercenaries of the Ukrainian Army.

A month earlier, in May, the British network ITV identified a British man named Dylan Healy, 21, from Cambridgeshire, who was captured along with another Briton, Paul Urey, at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhia, in southeastern Ukraine.