Ukraine’s Foreign Legion Begins Attracting Fighters from Around the Globe

Ukraine’s newly formed “Foreign Legion” has begun accepting volunteers to join their army fight off Russian forces.

Reuters: On Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country is establishing an “international” legion for foreign volunteers who want to fight for the nation.

Zelenskyy said in a statement: “This will be the key evidence of your support for our country.”

Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine confirmed in a tweet shared on Sunday: “Foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and world order as part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, I invite you to contact foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine in your respective countries. Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin too.”

Foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and world order as part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, I invite you to contact foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine in your respective countries. Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 27, 2022

Zelensksyy has captivated young people from all over the world as he stays and fights with his countrymen.

A military instructor teaches a schoolboy shooting with Kalashnikov rifles, during a training session at a military unit of the National Guard of Ukraine in western Ukrainian city of Lviv on February 15, 2022. An international legion has been created.YURIY DYACHYSHYN / CONTRIBUTOR/GETTY

NPR: Ukrainian male citizens who are 18 to 60 years old cannot leave the country. The policy will be in effect as long as the country remains under martial law, Ukraine’s border guard service said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has drafted reservists and encouraged citizens to resist the Russians, but he has not imposed a general draft thus far.

Vitaliy Shutov, a 22-year-old college student in the southern city of Kherson, said he is willing to fight if called upon.

“If I have to, then I will. Of course, I mean, I’ve never held in my arms a gun, for example. I don’t know how to shoot it. I don’t know how to use it. But if I get drafted, then I’ll be OK with it. And I’ll go fight,” he said.

“I just honestly cannot believe that this is happening in 2022. I mean, feels like 1939, like in Nazi Germany when they invaded Poland.”

In another bid to rally military support and repel Russian forces, Zelenskyy invited men from around Europe to come fight, stressing that the war with Russia involves the entire continent.

“If you have combat experience in Europe and do not want to look at the indecision of politicians, you can arrive in our state and protect Europe with us where it is now urgently required,” Zelenskyy said.