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No, porque los rusos los hayan apiolado a todos, sino porque sencillamente no han aguantado luchar contra un enemigo de tal calibre y se han vuelto a casa
The foreign fighters on front lines of Russia-Ukraine War – Asia Times
After President Volodymyr Zelensky asked foreigners to join the International Defense Legion of Ukraine at the beginning of the war on February 27, around 20,000 volunteers from more than 50 countries arrived in Kiev over the next two weeks.
Many traveled to the country for ideological reasons. In contrast to the disillusionment many Western veterans felt after combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, the belief that they would be helping to “ease Ukrainian suffering” and would be defending democracy have been powerful motivators in bringing thousands of volunteers to Kiev.
However, the vast majority of foreign arrivals returned home before the summer of 2022, for several reasons. Some lacked credible experience and were accused of being “war tourists” instead of being dedicated to Ukraine’s liberation. Western soldiers who volunteered also found themselves operating without strong air support and other key technological advantages enjoyed over militant groups in the Middle East.
Quedan los mas fanaticos y los voluntarios de la Granja de Virginia
‘The Romantics Are Gone’: A Year Later, Many Foreign Fighters Have Left Ukraine (vice.com)
But a year later, the flow of foreigners joining the Ukrainian military or the International Legion—the brainchild of President Volodyymyr Zelenskyy’s administration calling on foreign citizens to join an official wing of their military—has measurably slowed down.
“To be honest, we don't have a big line of those foreigners who want to join [Ukrainian Armed Forces] right now,” said a source in the Ukrainian security services who could not be named for safety reasons. “The romantics [who] were present in February [and] March are gone.”
At the moment, the overall number of foreign fighters on behalf of Kyiv is thought to be around 2000 in-uniform, many of whom are skilled and committed soldiers to the cause. There’s an entire Belarussian regiment (the largest contingent of foreign fighters), some are dissident Russians, several are serving in the Ukrainian special forces branch, while others have taken on vital roles instructing new recruits, or being almost legendary and evasive troops.
Even so, the numbers of foreigners have undeniably dropped from the roughly 20,000 volunteer applications the Ukrainian government quoted that it had in April 2022. Of late, the Ukrainian government hasn’t released up-to-date figures to the media on the International Legion. (A request for comment to both the Ukrainian military and Ministry of Foreign Affairs went unanswered.)
What is known is that there is a diverse flavor to the Legion, which pools from at least 55 countries including Canada, Finland, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Georgia, Poland, Sweden, Nigeria, South Korea, Norway, Spain, and Israel to name a handful. The many soldiers from abroad who are fighting remain committed, even if it is only for a few months at a time, and there is still, certainly to some degree, a steady if small flow of volunteers joining up.
Carl Larson, an Iraq War veteran who heeded Zelenskyy’s calls to join the International Legion and left for Ukraine from Seattle last March, said the decline in fresh foreign recruits into the conflict isn’t a new development but has more to do with weeding out the bad ones.
“The war tourists and thrill seekers have decreased in number,” said Larson, who served in the Legion for nearly five months. At one point, he helped Ukrainian recruiters on the ground identifying the good international volunteers versus the “misfits” and says the current numbers of active foreign fighters (on the side of Ukraine) seems accurate.
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“I think 1000 to 3000 [volunteers] is probably a good bet if you're counting uniformed combatants and not including trainers and civilian volunteers of whom, there's probably many more thousands over there.”
Larson returned home from combat to a job in the tech sector and started the nonprofit organization Ukraine Defense Support, which coordinates aid for the Ukrainian military and the International Legion (former legionnaires are among its organizers). To his mind, legionnaires and foreign volunteers in other Ukrainian military units have mostly served for a few months at a time then either returned home, or in some rarer occasions, went home within weeks.
“Maybe twenty-percent of guys bail the first time they're under artillery fire and then the rest kind of slowly trickle away,” he said. “Almost all of them are gone after three to six months.”
There’s no denying the critical role volunteer soldiers have made to the Kyiv government’s fight against the Kremlin’s invasion. Besides corralling global interest in the conflict, media has even likened the influx of volunteers to Ukraine with the exploits of the Spanish Civil War, an often romanticized conflict with international brigades on both sides. Yet the number of dead from the war is rising sharply and foreign fighters haven’t been spared from the casualties list.
The foreign fighters on front lines of Russia-Ukraine War – Asia Times
After President Volodymyr Zelensky asked foreigners to join the International Defense Legion of Ukraine at the beginning of the war on February 27, around 20,000 volunteers from more than 50 countries arrived in Kiev over the next two weeks.
Many traveled to the country for ideological reasons. In contrast to the disillusionment many Western veterans felt after combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, the belief that they would be helping to “ease Ukrainian suffering” and would be defending democracy have been powerful motivators in bringing thousands of volunteers to Kiev.
However, the vast majority of foreign arrivals returned home before the summer of 2022, for several reasons. Some lacked credible experience and were accused of being “war tourists” instead of being dedicated to Ukraine’s liberation. Western soldiers who volunteered also found themselves operating without strong air support and other key technological advantages enjoyed over militant groups in the Middle East.
Quedan los mas fanaticos y los voluntarios de la Granja de Virginia
‘The Romantics Are Gone’: A Year Later, Many Foreign Fighters Have Left Ukraine (vice.com)
But a year later, the flow of foreigners joining the Ukrainian military or the International Legion—the brainchild of President Volodyymyr Zelenskyy’s administration calling on foreign citizens to join an official wing of their military—has measurably slowed down.
“To be honest, we don't have a big line of those foreigners who want to join [Ukrainian Armed Forces] right now,” said a source in the Ukrainian security services who could not be named for safety reasons. “The romantics [who] were present in February [and] March are gone.”
At the moment, the overall number of foreign fighters on behalf of Kyiv is thought to be around 2000 in-uniform, many of whom are skilled and committed soldiers to the cause. There’s an entire Belarussian regiment (the largest contingent of foreign fighters), some are dissident Russians, several are serving in the Ukrainian special forces branch, while others have taken on vital roles instructing new recruits, or being almost legendary and evasive troops.
Even so, the numbers of foreigners have undeniably dropped from the roughly 20,000 volunteer applications the Ukrainian government quoted that it had in April 2022. Of late, the Ukrainian government hasn’t released up-to-date figures to the media on the International Legion. (A request for comment to both the Ukrainian military and Ministry of Foreign Affairs went unanswered.)
What is known is that there is a diverse flavor to the Legion, which pools from at least 55 countries including Canada, Finland, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Georgia, Poland, Sweden, Nigeria, South Korea, Norway, Spain, and Israel to name a handful. The many soldiers from abroad who are fighting remain committed, even if it is only for a few months at a time, and there is still, certainly to some degree, a steady if small flow of volunteers joining up.
Carl Larson, an Iraq War veteran who heeded Zelenskyy’s calls to join the International Legion and left for Ukraine from Seattle last March, said the decline in fresh foreign recruits into the conflict isn’t a new development but has more to do with weeding out the bad ones.
“The war tourists and thrill seekers have decreased in number,” said Larson, who served in the Legion for nearly five months. At one point, he helped Ukrainian recruiters on the ground identifying the good international volunteers versus the “misfits” and says the current numbers of active foreign fighters (on the side of Ukraine) seems accurate.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I think 1000 to 3000 [volunteers] is probably a good bet if you're counting uniformed combatants and not including trainers and civilian volunteers of whom, there's probably many more thousands over there.”
Larson returned home from combat to a job in the tech sector and started the nonprofit organization Ukraine Defense Support, which coordinates aid for the Ukrainian military and the International Legion (former legionnaires are among its organizers). To his mind, legionnaires and foreign volunteers in other Ukrainian military units have mostly served for a few months at a time then either returned home, or in some rarer occasions, went home within weeks.
“Maybe twenty-percent of guys bail the first time they're under artillery fire and then the rest kind of slowly trickle away,” he said. “Almost all of them are gone after three to six months.”
There’s no denying the critical role volunteer soldiers have made to the Kyiv government’s fight against the Kremlin’s invasion. Besides corralling global interest in the conflict, media has even likened the influx of volunteers to Ukraine with the exploits of the Spanish Civil War, an often romanticized conflict with international brigades on both sides. Yet the number of dead from the war is rising sharply and foreign fighters haven’t been spared from the casualties list.
