Volunteers from 16 countries are coming to join Ukraine’s foreign legion, Foreign Minister Kuleba said at an online briefing on March 2 without specifying from which countries.
The unit is officially called the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine. They are “already coming to Ukraine who are ready to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Ukrainian people against the aggressor,” Kuleba was quoted as saying by Kyivpost.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement, “Ukraine is already meeting foreign volunteers who are going to our country. The first of sixteen thousand. They are going to defend freedom. Defend life. For us. For all. And it will be successful. I'm sure.”
Legion members have started ariving in Ukraine. A Finnish reservist lieutenant posted a selfie on Twitter donned in Ukrainian uniform. “People from all over the world have come here to help to defend Ukraine. My bunkmates are Norwegian and American. There is still plenty of room for more!” he said in his post.
The formation of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine comes days after President Zelenskyy made a fervant appeal to foreign individuals join in the defense of Ukraine.
Ukraine has outlined steps for foreigners wishing to join the international legion:
U.S. recruiting private military companies (PMCs) for Ukraine fighting: Kremlin
U.S. military intelligence has launched a large-scale campaign to recruit contractors of private military companies (PMCs) to be sent to Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing on Thursday.
"Employees of the American PMCs ‘AkAdemi,’ ‘KyUbik’ and ‘Dean Corporation" are recruited. UK, Denmark, Latvia, Poland and Croatia legally allowed their citizens to participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. The command of the French Foreign Legion plans to send servicemen - ethnic Ukrainians to help the Kiev regime," Konashenkov said.