Ukraine's Foreign Fighters Could Include Mercenaries, Terrorists

Some of the more than 16,000 foreign volunteers who answered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's call to join his "International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine" and take up arms against Russian President Vladimir Putin's troops may be paid mercenaries or even terrorists in training.

Foreign citizens, largely from former Soviet states, have volunteered to assist Ukraine since 2014, when Russia-backed separatists took control of parts of the Donbass region. But military analysts say Zelenskyy's recent recruitment effort has attracted not only similar volunteers from neighboring nations such as Latvia and Georgia but also mercenaries and fighters from countries with ties to terror.