Deutche Welle: among the legionnaires are even citizens of Colombia.
The number of foreign legionnaires in the Ukrainian Armed Forces has reached 20,000, sources from DW reported. On the third day of the full-scale war, Volodymyr Zelensky called on foreigners to come and fight for Ukraine. Within a week, applications to join the International Legion of Territorial Defense were received from more than 50 Ukrainian embassies. In Kyiv, it was claimed that "more than 20,000 people were ready to fight."
However, it has only been possible to approach this figure now, sources in the Armed Forces, intelligence, and National Guard told DW. Today, the proportion of foreigners in the Ukrainian army (about 1 million soldiers) is approximately 2%. But this could change quickly, as attracting foreigners to combat tasks is one of the key elements of the strategy being developed by the Ministry of Defense.
Despite the authorities developing official channels for recruiting foreign fighters, the most effective method has been "word of mouth": idealists called on other idealists to fight against Kremlin imperialism, and legionnaires with experience invited their comrades from previous service, DW's sources from various foreign units report. By the second year of the war, most of these pragmatists were coming to Ukraine from Colombia. However, their military experience was not very relevant, recalls Konstantin Milevsky, head of the coordination department for foreign military service in the Ground Forces.
"They were used to fighting against partisans and cartels in the jungles, while here the enemy was a large army with missiles and drones," the officer recounts.
For legionnaires to become a truly important element of Ukraine's defense, Milevsky recommends that military leadership "change the optics."
"We will do our utmost to ensure that they perceive Ukraine not just as a source of income, but also feel the goals of this war. They should feel that Ukraine is a wonderful place where they can not only gain new useful experience but also apply it. A place where they can stay and become part of society," he said in a conversation with DW.
