President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he won’t allow Filipino soldiers to fight alongside American forces should the United States is drawn further into the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, insisting the Philippines should maintain its neutrality.

The Philippines maintains a defense pact with the United States.

“Other countries — there’s violence in Europe, and Russia has wreaked havoc there. So we better — we better maintain our neutrality. Let’s avoid meddling in it so that we won’t get involved,” President Duterte said during the inauguration of the New Leyte Provincial Government Complex and distribution of land certificates to former rebels.

“I won’t commit. If the Americans engage in a war and they’re here, why will I send my soldiers? It’s not our battle to fight. If the violence spills over and the war somehow gets here, that will be very difficult. I won’t, I really won’t. For as long as I’m President, I won’t send a single soldier of mine to go to war,” he said.

Duterte had said that the country should refrain from taking sides amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, fearing further escalation could result in a nuclear war.

Since assuming office, Duterte has forged warmer ties with Russia and China, the Philippines’ non-traditional partners, under his independent foreign policy approach.

The country’s paramount concern is ensuring the welfare of Filipinos living or working in Ukraine in the midst of unabated bombardment of its major cities by Russian forces.

The West has imposed crippling sanctions against Russia following its February 24 invasion of Ukraine that has killed scores of soldiers and civilians, destroyed the country’s infrastructures, and created an exodus of millions of refugees to its neighboring countries.

The world’s major companies also halted or scaled down their Russia business operations, protesting the war’s tremendous human toll to the Ukrainian population. PND