Around 20,000 citizens from 55 countries joined the International Legion under the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the start of the war. How many foreigners are still fighting in Ukraine a year later is a question to which hardly anyone today can give a definitive answer. Some experts call the figure 3,000 people, others – even less. However, analysts agree on one thing: the Ukrainian army in general and foreign volunteers in particular have reached a new, more professional level.
Dara Massicot, Senior Evaluator, RAND Research Center:
“As far as I know, at the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian side didn’t really regulate this process and accepted everyone who wanted to come and fight – who had at least some military experience. I think with the time, they realized that this did not always lead to good results. People arrived at the front and the situation there was very different from what they had seen before. And that brought more problems than good Since then, the Ukrainian authorities have tightened the rules for welcoming foreigners.
From the beginning of the war, the terminology also caused a lot of uncertainty – what is the correct name of foreigners fighting in Ukraine?
Noreen Fink, Executive Director of Soufan Think Tank:
“If you join the Armed Forces of Ukraine, you are definitely not a mercenary. You are an ordinary foreigner who serves in their International Legion. However, there are certainly mercenaries in Ukraine as well. We also know that there are other volunteers there who may not be affiliated with the official armed forces or the International Legion. That is why the situation with foreigners in Ukraine seems very complicated and confusing … But I think that for the majority of foreigners fighting alongside Ukraine, the terms “foreign fighters” or “foreign volunteers” are the simplest and most accurate.
In general, foreign fighters appeared in Ukraine long before the start of large-scale Russian aggression. Some people from neighboring countries joined the fight against pro-Russian separatists at the start of the war in Donbass in 2014. Among them were many Georgians who formed the Georgian National Legion. It is now the largest foreign unit in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Mamuka Mamulashvili, Commander of the Georgian National Legion:
“Many Georgians see Ukraine as their people, their homeland. I wouldn’t say there are moral issues. The guys are doing very well. I cannot say that we are in a good mood, because, you see, every day you have to fight for your life, not for your own, but for the civilian life, which Russia is deliberately targeting.
In 2014, Belarusians also appeared in the Donbass. Now two units are fighting for Ukraine at once – the regiment of Pahonia and the regiment of Kastus Kalinovsky. The commander of the regiment Kalinuski says that without a free Ukraine there will also be no free Belarus – from the Lukashenko regime. According to him, the ranks of the regiment are also constantly replenished – for example, a second recruiting center was recently opened in Georgia. The center of Warsaw has been functioning since the beginning of the war.
Denis “Kit”, commander of the Kastus Kalinouski regiment:
“At this point we now structurally have the Volot battalion, the Litvin battalion, the UAV group of Nikita Kravtsov. We also have a medical service, a technical support platoon, a separate training company with their own instructors. Cyber guerrillas united with the Kalinovsky regiment. Now we are, so to speak, one structure.
Another large international structure is the Russian Freedom Legion, originally formed from officers and soldiers of the Russian army who crossed over to the side of Ukraine. According to the command, the number of units is also constantly increasing.
“Caesar”, military tribune, orator, Legion “Freedom of Russia”:
“They, through their relatives, turned to the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, let’s say, were able to pass to the side of Ukraine. That is, it’s not about to surrender to survive, to survive the war, but to cross to the side of Ukraine to protect the freedom of Ukraine and further liberate Russia. Later they became members of the Legion as Russian citizens living on the territory of Ukraine; Russian citizens who live abroad, who went there – including after the start of the war, in particular the so-called mobilization. And people like me, for example, who lived in Russian Federation, but who have already left the country directly to join Ukraine in its struggle.
Other foreign volunteer units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are the battalions named after Khamzat Gelaev, Dzhokhar Dudayev, Sheikh Mansur and the Ministry of Defense of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (formed by anti-Putin and anti-Kadyrov Chechens ), the Normandy Brigade (composed of retired Canadian soldiers), the Canadian-Ukrainian Battalion (uniting representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada) and many others.
