The International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine broadly known as Foreign Legion was established on February 27th, 2022 as one of the measures in response to the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, as of March 6, 2022 more than 20,000 people from 52 countries have volunteered to join the legion. The exact number of participants and countries represented is unknown due to the varying position of different governments on the ability of their citizens to fight in a conflict abroad; in some states it is illegal.
For example, in Belarus it is persecuted – as any attempt to assist Ukraine – under the dictatorship of Aleksander Lukashenko who has essentially turned the country into Russian proxy, the territory of which is by the Russian military used to attack Ukraine. However, Belarusian president-elect in exile, Svitlana Tsikhanouskaya, has encouraged Belarusians to join the fight and they have their own regiment in the Foreign Legion – Pahonia.
Other national battalions include Canadian-Ukrainian brigade, Dzhokhar Dudayev and Sheikh Mansur battalions (uniting mostly Chechen fighters as opposed to the dictatorship of Ramzan Kadyrov), Georgian Legion, Freedom of Russia Legion and others.
In establishing the Foreign Legion Ukraine follows a tradition of more than 90 countries that have set up similar units in the wars during the last 200+ years. The modern Foreign Legion of Ukraine unites people from different countries of the world driven by different reasons to join – Ukraine In Flames #177 explores these issues today.
UKRAINE IN FLAMES project is created by Ukraine Crisis Media Center and NGO “Euroatlantic Course”. We are aiming at searching a loud support for Ukraine in the war started by Russia on the 24th of February 2022.
If you want to support Ukraine against Russian aggression, check the link with recommendations by Ukraine Crisis Media Center – https://uacrisis.org/en/help-ukraine.
NGO Euroatlantic Course collects donations to support Ukrainian Army and civilians – https://eac.org.ua/en/main-page/.