Libya's Haftar 'to send troops to fight for Russia': Ukraine army

Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar has agreed to send troops to fight for Russia’s invading forces in Ukraine, a Facebook post by Ukraine’s armed forces claimed on Sunday.

The post alleges that Haftar made an agreement with the Kremlin during his visit to Moscow earlier this month, in which he promised to send Libyan "volunteers" to Ukraine in order to participate in combat operations on the side of the Russian Federation.”

⚡️Ukraine: Russia reaches agreement on hiring Libyan mercenaries.

According to Ukraine's Armed Forces, Russia has reached an agreement with Libya’s military commander Khalifa Haftar during his visit to Moscow to recruit Libyan mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 20, 2022

The mercenaries will reportedly be transported by the infamous Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organisation that rose to prominence by aiding separatists in the Donbas region of Ukraine in 2015.

With thousands of members, the paramilitary group is known for entering conflicts around the world on behalf of the Kremlin. Its mercenaries allegedly appeared in Libya in 2019 to fight for Haftar's forces in his assault against the UN-backed government in Tripoli, according to the BBC.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly accused Moscow of recruiting mercenaries to fight in Ukraine.Kyiv's intelligence has said that members of the Wagner Group have entered Ukraine with the aim of assassinating President Zelensky and other top-level officials, according to The Telegraph.