More than 20,000 people from 52 countries have joined Ukraine's efforts to impede the Russian advance in a newly formed group "International Legion of Defense of Ukraine," but fighting for Ukraine as a foreigner could have legal and security ramifications, reports The Washington Times.
The U.S. and many other countries have discouraged their citizens from going to Ukraine. If captured, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian news agency Tass, that the volunteers "wouldn't enjoy the status of prisoners of war" under the Geneva Conventions because they would not be considered soldiers, but mercenaries.
"None of the mercenaries the West is sending to Ukraine to fight for the nationalist regime in Kyiv can be considered as combatants in accordance with international humanitarian law or enjoy the status of prisoners of war," Konashenkov stressed on March 3.
"At best, they can expect to be prosecuted as criminals. We are urging all foreign citizens who may have plans to go and fight for Kyiv's nationalist regime to think a dozen times before getting on the way," he added.
The Washington Times says there are also additional issues with foreign fighters traveling to Ukraine: several volunteers told the Times they were required to sign contracts obligating them to serve until the end of the war and the Ukrainian officials have been slow to process applications.
"It's not surprising that there have been administrative challenges given the scale of foreigners who have responded to this call," Austin C. Doctor, director of counterterrorism research initiatives at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's NCITE Center, told the Military Times. "But from a broader security standpoint, I think it's especially important that the Ukrainian government does its best to create the administrative infrastructure to incorporate these hires into formal units for purposes of monitoring and accountability."
Language and training barriers and integrating so many fighters into Ukraine's army is also challenging, reports the Military Times.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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