Myanmar calls on countries to take back citizens held in crackdown on scam centers

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military regime appealed to the international community on Sunday to take back hundreds of foreigners who have been detained in a crackdown on scam centers in the country's eastern Kayin state near the Thai border.

In recent months, the authorities have raided two major scam centers, KK Park and Shwe Kokko, on the outskirts of Myawaddy, a trading town on the border with Thailand. The operations resulted in the detention of thousands of foreign nationals.

Col. Min Thu Kyaw, who led the crackdown operations, said authorities were struggling to manage the detainees.

“They are different nationals, who have different religions, morals and personalities,” he said. “We want the international community to come and call them quickly. It would be more convenient if they call them back as soon as possible.”

On Sunday, Maj-Gen Aung Kyaw Kyaw, deputy minister for Home Affairs, told a press conference in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, that 13,272 foreigners from 47 countries had been detained since the start of the crackdown in January. While most have been deported, 1,655 are still in detention, he said.

Myanmar is notorious for hosting cyberscam operations that target people all over the world. They usually involve gaining a person’s confidence with romantic ploys and luring them into bogus investment schemes. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has estimated that such activities generate just under $40 billion in annual revenue for criminal gangs.

Col. Min Thu Kyaw, the minister for the security and border affairs of Kayin state government, said most of the 1,655 people awaiting deportation are being held at town's sport facilities, as well as in buildings controlled by the Kayin Border Guard Force and repurposed scam compounds.

The largest number of the remaining detainees awaiting deportation are Chinese nationals, with more than 500 people. They rest comprises groups of between 100 and 300 people each from Indonesia, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Kenya and India, he said.

The minister said most delayed returns involve foreigners from African countries that do not have embassies in Myanmar or Thailand, and that has slowed the deportation process to as long as five months.

State-run MRTV television has recently broadcast footage of security operations at scam centers near Myawaddy, including videos and photos showing buildings being demolished with explosives and bulldozers.

The military government has said it began its latest crackdown on online scams and illegal gambling in early September. However, critics charge that the masterminds of the scam operations continue to operate in other locations.

Ethnic minority militias also exercise strong influence in the Myawaddy area. Several ethnic Karen militias are active, including the military-backed Border Guard Force, which has signed a ceasefire with the army, and the Karen National Union, which is part of the nationwide resistance fight against military rule.

The Border Guard Force has claimed credit for taking part in the crackdown, though it is widely believed to have provided protection for scam operators in the past. The military government has claimed the KNU is linked to the scam centers on the basis of reported real estate deals.

Both groups have denied involvement in the scam operations.

People look at seized computers from online scam centers and photos displayed during a news conference on national level efforts to completely eliminate online scams and dismantle their networks at the root, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

A military officer looks at photos displayed during a news conference on national level efforts to completely eliminate online scams and dismantle their networks at the root, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun, fifth from left, leader of the military information team, speaks during a news conference on national level efforts to completely eliminate online scams and dismantle their networks at the root, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun, leader of the military information team, speaks after press briefing on national level efforts to completely eliminate online scams and dismantle their networks at the root, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

BERLIN (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. envoys arrived in Berlin on Sunday for another round of talks intended to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine as Moscow and Kyiv stuck to their sharply opposite views of a prospective peace deal.

Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin. He said he will meet personally with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in Berlin.

Responding to journalists’ questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat, Zelenskyy emphasized the need for Ukraine to receive firm guarantees from the United States and European allies that would be similar to those offered to NATO members after the U.S. and some European countries stonewalled Ukraine’s bid to join the military alliance.

“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he said. "And this is already a compromise on our part.”

Zelenskyy emphasized that any security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress, adding that he expected an update from his team following a meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. military officials in Stuttgart.

He said that he will meet separately with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and, possibly, other European leaders later in the evening. He said he hadn’t yet received any response from the U.S. to Ukraine’s latest proposals on the peace plan.

Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control and abandon its bid to join NATO, among the key conditions for peace — demands Kyiv has rejected.

Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan, a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine as U.S.-led negotiations drag on.

Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.

Speaking to Russian state TV in remarks broadcast Sunday, Ushakov said that “the contribution of Ukrainians and Europeans to these documents is unlikely to be constructive," warning that Moscow will “have very strong objections.”

Ushakov added that the territorial issue was actively discussed in Moscow when Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin earlier this month. “The Americans know and understand our position," he said.

Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”

He warned that Putin's aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.” “If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned on Saturday during a party conference in Munich.

Putin has denied plans to restore the Soviet Union or attack any European allies.

As peace efforts continued, Russia and Ukraine exchanged another round of aerial attacks.

Ukraine’s air force said overnight Russia launched ballistic missiles and 138 attack drones at Ukraine. In its daily report, the air force said 110 had been intercepted or downed, but missile and drone hits were recorded at six locations.

Zelenskyy said Sunday that hundreds of thousands of families were still without power in the south, east and north-east regions and work was continuing to restore electricity, heat and water to multiple regions following a large-scale attack the previous night.

The Ukrainian president said that in the past week, Russia had launched over 1,500 strike drones, nearly 900 guided aerial bombs and 46 missiles of various types at Ukraine.

“Ukraine needs peace on decent terms, and we are ready to work as constructively as possible. These days will be filled with diplomacy. It’s very important that it brings results,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday.

In the Belgorod region, a drone injured a man and set his house ablaze in the village of Yasnye Zori, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in Uryupinsk in the Volgograd region, triggering a fire, according to the regional governor, Andrei Bocharov.

In the Krasnodar region, the Ukrainian drones attacked the town of Afipsky, where an oil refinery is located. The authorities said that explosions shattered windows in residential buildings, but didn’t report any damage to the refinery.

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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.

Günter Sautter, left, foreign and security policy advisor to the Federal Chancellor, and former Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umjerow arrive for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

Jared Kushner, entrepreneur and former chief advisor to President Donald Trump, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

Ukraine's Secretary of National Security Rustem Umerov, right, and Günter Sautter, Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to Chancellor Merz meet in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

In this grab from a video provided by the Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine on Friday, Dec 12, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy records a video at the road entering of Kupiansk, Ukraine. (Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine via AP)