Shortly after the invasion of Russian troops, the Ukrainian President Selenskyj called on international volunteers to fight for his country, and an international legion was formed. In the meantime, 55 nations are said to be represented in it. The Russian fighters hunt them down particularly intensively.
According to information from Kyiv, volunteers from around 55 countries - including Germany - are now fighting Russian troops in Ukraine. "We can confirm that we have German legionnaires, but cannot comment on any numbers," said a spokesman for the International Legion. At the beginning of June, the Legion, which was set up as a state agency, also confirmed the death of a German for the first time, who had died in the fighting during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Legion had previously announced that Americans and British volunteers in particular were deployed, followed by Poles and Canadians. There are also fighters from Brazil, Australia, South Korea and the Baltic EU states, as well as from northern European countries, including Finland in particular.
Legion spokesman Damien Magrou denied in Kyiv that they were mercenaries. The volunteers are part of the Ukrainian armed forces. The Legion will be financed from funds from the defense budget. "This includes all expenses for housing, soldiers' salaries, weapons and ammunition," he said. There are also Western sponsors who finance the Legion's work. "The money comes from different directions and is only spent on equipping our soldiers."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on volunteers from all over the world to join the fight against the Russian army. The Legion was founded for this purpose. The Russian military repeatedly reports the "annihilation" of "mercenaries" and, according to Moscow, the number of foreigners killed is in the thousands. There are also numerous prisoners.
The spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, had repeatedly threatened that Moscow would target "mercenaries". "A number of Western countries are promoting, at the state level, the participation of their citizens in hostilities against Russian troops as Ukraine's mercenaries," he said in March. However, Russia had also announced that it would take foreigners into its ranks, including experienced men from Syria.
