YPG/PKK terror group reportedly fighting alongside Russia in Ukraine

Reports have said that militants affiliated to terror group YPG/PKK are on the ground in Ukraine, fighting alongside Russian forces. 

According to journalists, YPG/PKK are already on the ground in Ukraine and that Russia is recruiting YPG/PKK militants paying a fighter $1300 per month. 

Journalist Vera Mironova, who is covering the Russian offensive in Ukraine, tweeted, "According to sources in Iraqi intelligence, PKK is already on the ground in Ukraine on Russian side. And before, in 2020 they were in Karabach war on Armenian side. Their only thing is insurgency." 

TRT Habar journalist Sertac Aksan also tweeted that Russia is recruiting YPG/PKK terrorists for $1,300 a month and that families of deceased terrorist  will be given $5,000. 

He also added that nearly 400 of group's terrorists have been moved to Ukraine regions.  

No official source has as yet confirmed the presence of YPG/PKK terrorists in Ukraine fighitng alongside Russians, Huseyin Alptekin of Istanbul Medipol University said. 

Alptekin, however, said the terror group did intervene in the fight between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2020. 

Alptekin highlighted that PKK terrorists from Iraq and Syria were also involved in fighting against Azerbaijani army, an issue that Türkiye's President Erdogan raised with Russia's President Putin at that time. 

PKK terrorists fought alongside the Armenian army in Upper Karabakh, the terror group's senior member confirmed during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. 

During the Russian offensive on Ukraine, a member of the PKK executive committee Duran Kalkan said that Ukraine has lost the battle with Russia saying "the war will deeply affect Türkiye."

The PKK senior member also said that Russia has hit many Ukranian military and economic targets and that Kiev will lose this war. He added, 'the Russia-Ukraine war is inequivalent." 

In its more than 31-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Türkiye, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. 

The group is also accused of abducting, threatening, and deceiving hundreds of vulnerable minors for recruitment. 

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