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☆ Ukraine was a magnet for foreign fighters. After 2 bruising years, many are disillusioned or dead.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( Cameron Manley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Zelensky's International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine (ILDU) was born, echoing the International Brigades that fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. According to Ukrainian officials, dozens of Ukrainians were killed and more than 100 foreign volunteers injured, ending their campaigns before they began. AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, FileUkraine originally said 20,000 foreign volunteers had signed up to fight. That could prove "very enticing" for some foreign volunteers, Bocchese said. AdvertisementAn April 2024 increases payments for Ukrainian volunteers, adds new punishments for draft dodging, and seeks to compel Ukrainian men living abroad to come home.

Persons: —, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Carl Larson, Marco Bocchese, Rodrigo Abd, Bocchese, Matteo Pugliese, Pugliese, Larson, Oleksandr Shahuri, Zelenskyy, Lukatsky Organizations: Ukraine's, Service, Legion of Territorial Defense of, Brigades, Royal United Services Institute, International Legion, Legion, Webster Vienna Private University, AP, Washington Post, 59th Motorized Brigade, Company, University of Barcelona, Georgian Legion, International, Army, Green Beret, Navy SEAL, State Department, National Guard, Bolivar Battalion, Associated Press Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, Spanish, Ukraine's, London, Iraq, Kharkiv, Alabama, Russian, Lviv, Bucha, Kyiv, Austria, Montenegro, Kosovo, India, Latin America, Ukrainian, Lyman, Bolivar, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuelan

☆ Looking for a Fight
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Tyler Hicks | Photographs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The bullet-scarred pickups raced the sunrise along a rough dirt road wending through a dense pine forest. Multiple languages were spoken by the men inside them — Ukrainian, Brazilian, Colombian, Polish — but few words. They had come to fight Russians. The trucks barely came to a halt to discharge their passengers before speeding off again. Armed drones might appear overhead at any moment, and so as the men continued on foot, they, too, did so with urgency.

Organizations: International Legion Locations: Polish

☆ Fears Ukrainian POWs have been coerced to fight against their fellow citizens by Russia, says ISW
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia is training Ukrainian prisoners of war to fight on the front lines, Russian media reported. AdvertisementAdvertisementRussian authorities are planning to deploy a battalion of Ukrainian prisoners of war to the front lines, Russian media reported. The outlet described it as a volunteer battalion including about 70 prisoners from various penal colonies. A Russian battalion consists of two-to-four companies and has from 250 to 1,000 people. AdvertisementAdvertisement"Russian authorities have likely coerced Ukrainian prisoners of war into joining a 'volunteer' formation that will fight in Ukraine, said the Institute for the Study of War.

Persons: —, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, Andrii Tyshchenko, Tyshchenko, Andriy Yusov, HUR Organizations: Geneva Convention, Service, RIA Novosti, Russian, Institute for, Siberian Battalion, International Legion of, Armed Forces of, Defense, Main Intelligence Locations: Russia, Russian, Donetsk Oblast, Geneva, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Kyiv

☆ Ukraine says it created a whole battalion from Russians who signed up to fight their own country
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Siberian Battalion largely consists of people from ethnic minorities in Russia. The battalion is expected to be sent to fight against Russia very soon, Bloomberg reported. AdvertisementAdvertisementUkraine said Wednesday that it had created a whole battalion from Russians who wanted to fight their own country. The battalion does not recruit captured Russian soldiers, he added, as per the Kyiv Post. He called his battalion the Siberian Battalion.

Persons: —, Andriy Yusov, HUR, Yusov, Vladislav Ammosov Organizations: Siberian Battalion, Bloomberg, Service, International Legion of, Armed Forces of, Defense, Main Intelligence, Russian Federation, Kyiv Post, New, Radio Free Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Kyiv, Russian, Eastern Siberia, Europe, Radio Free Europe

☆ 'Frag out!': Dramatic helmet-cam footage appears to show US volunteers of Ukraine's Chosen Company clearing a Russian trench
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Chosen Company includes US volunteers fighting with Ukraine's 59th Motorized Brigade. Two US veterans killed in a drone attack in Ukraine last month were part of Chosen Company, say reports. The helmet-cam purportedly shows English-speaking fighters from the "Chosen Company" in open fields. The Chosen Company is a volunteer group composed of military veterans supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion, Military.com reports. "Lance was an integral part of Chosen Company, our friend, and our family," wrote the man using the X handle @floridasoldat.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskky, Ryan O'Leary, Andrew Webber, Lance Lawrence, Webber, Heather Hagan, Lawrence, O'Leary, Lance, Nick Maimer, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin Organizations: Company, Ukraine's 59th Motorized Brigade, Chosen Company, Service, 59th Motorized Brigade, Ukraine, International Legion, US Army, US Military Academy, West, Army, Marine Corps, US Green Beret, Wagner Group Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Donetsk, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukrainian, Seattle, Russia, Florida, Bakhmut

☆ Foreigners, some trained by the US, are fighting on both sides in Ukraine, seeking cash and adventure
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The war in Ukraine has drawn foreign fighters to the armies on both sides. While Russia is recruiting mercenaries, Ukraine has become a magnet for volunteers who want to fight Russian aggression or find adventure. By mid-2022, after Ukraine formed its International Legion of Defense, 20,000 volunteers from 52 nations had joined, according to the Ukrainian government. A new study by Italian researcher Matteo Pugliese found a bewildering array of backgrounds and motivations among the members of Ukraine's International Legion, a battalion-sized force. Ukraine's International Legion of Defense has drawn volunteers from all over the world.

Persons: —, Nepalis, Vladimir Putin, Rahmatullah Alizadah, Matteo Pugliese, Pugliese, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Gurkha, Russian, Nepal Express, Nepalese Army, Getty, Moscow —, Legion of Defense, Spanish Civil War's, Brigades, Nazi, Ukraine's International, NATO, ISIS, Ukraine's, Legion, Defense, Ukraine, Facebook, Kyiv, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Russian, Nepal, Dubai, Russia, Britain, Europe, Kabul, Xinhua, Afghanistan, Spanish, Canada, Syria, Australia, Poland, North America, Latin America, American, Syrian, Forbes

☆ The making of a fake war hero: An American who reinvented himself as a social-media soldier in Ukraine is accused of 'stolen valor'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

Four foreign fighters and volunteers in Ukraine who knew Vasquez told Insider it was widely known he wasn't actually taking part in front-line fighting. A Pentagon representative, however, told Insider that Vasquez was never deployed to either of those places — or anywhere else. "I had to tell a million lies to get ahead," Vasquez told the Times. When Ashton-Cirillo took to Twitter to expose Vasquez, Huggett said she felt compelled to make a video to back her up. Huggett told Insider: "I'm tired, but I'm not sorry I exposed the lying scammer.

Persons: James Vasquez, Vasquez, Tucker Carlson, Adam Kinzinger, wasn't, he'd, Tina Vasquez, Libkos Vasquez, Sarah Ashton, Huggett, James, Tim, I'm, Viktor Yatsunyk, Vasquez —, Ashton, Cirillo, James messaged, I've, Diego Herrera Carcedo, Wagner, Vasquez's, Peg Leg, that's, selflessly, Ripley's, hadn't, John, Twitter John, Da Vinci, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Da, Malcolm Nance, Nance Organizations: Service, Twitter, Operation, Storm, Pentagon, New York National Guard, Army Reserve, The New York Times, Army, Times, New York Post, AP, Territorial Defense Force, Armed Forces of, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Wagner Group, UN, United Nations, Ukraine's Territorial Defense Forces, Armed Forces, Legion, Ripley's, New York Times, Da Vinci Wolves, Wolverines, Wolves, National Police, Security Service, MSNBC, Ukraine's International Locations: Ukraine, Wall, Silicon, Russia, Connecticut, Soledar, Kuwait, Iraq, Ukrainian, Bakhmut, Donetsk region, American, Armed Forces of Ukraine, Maidan, Geneva, Ashton, US

☆ Graphic helmet-cam footage appears to show US volunteers in action in Ukraine, dodging bullets and mortar blasts in an intense battle with Russian forces
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Helmet-cam appears to show American soldiers fighting Russian forces in Ukraine. The footage shows them dodging bullets and mortar blasts as they try to seek cover and intense fire. The American soldiers run through the barren land, at times tripping over in the rubble. Most of these fighters joined the International Legion, while others joined the army itself or worked to help Ukrainian forces in other capacities. Several American volunteers have died battling Russian forces in Ukraine.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, Twitter, Eastern, International Legion, American Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Bahkmut

☆ Bakhmut: Wagner forces claim to have taken the eastern Ukrainian city. But Kyiv's forces could still exact a heavy toll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Sam Kiley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Kyiv rebuffed claims that Russian forces have captured the city in the eastern Donetsk region. LIBKOS/APYevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner private military group, pictured in a screengrab from May 20, 2023, insisted that his men captured Bakhmut after months of fighting. A Ukrainian serviceman checks Russian positions in Bakhmut on May 11, 2023. He said regular Russian troops were incompetent cowards. And they’re being flanked to the north and south by Ukrainian troops.

☆ How Russians end up in a far-right militia fighting in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

[1/3] Danil Yugoslavsky gets ready at Civic Council’s Warsaw office, hours before crossing into Ukraine, in Warsaw, Poland, January 15, 2023. Max Smit, who crossed into Ukraine with Yugoslavsky, had never held a weapon before he joined the RVC. And there are some who think that fighting for the motherland is their cause," said Galeotti, naming the Rusich Group and ENOT Corp among far-right paramilitary units fighting on Russia's side. That's still a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and volunteers fighting in Ukraine, and the thousands of foreigners that have been fighting Russian forces there. According to Sokolov, RVC fighters received regular salaries from the Ukrainian defence ministry.

☆ Fact Check-New York subway ad urging welfare recipients to join Ukraine war is not authentic
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

An advertisement seeking to recruit U.S. citizens on the welfare scheme to the International Legion of Ukraine, purportedly seen on New York underground trains, is not an official poster. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington told Reuters that the poster is not real. The text on the poster which carries the logo of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) reads: “Tired of living on welfare? Join the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine.”The International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine was formed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and recruits foreign citizens to fight for Ukraine in the war (fightforua.org/). The poster calling on welfare recipients in the U.S to join the war in Ukraine is not authentic.

☆ Some US volunteers in Ukraine have become embroiled in infighting that has undermined the war effort, with one individual having lied about being a Marine: NYT
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The squabbles have not only threatened the war effort, but have exposed deeply consequential lies. Some volunteers have left the war effort in Ukraine after questions arose about their backgrounds. Foreign Legion volunteers in Ukraine. And while Ukrainian officials estimated that there were possibly 20,000 Legion volunteers, that number was officially much smaller. Lackey told Legion members that he was a Marine and said that he had been an assistant manager at LongHorn Steakhouse.

☆ Ukraine's air force is now allowing foreigners to sign up as pilots as it pushes for Western fighter jets
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine's Air Force will now allow foreigners to serve as pilots, engineers, and specialists. Ukraine said that its air force has been inundated with offers from people willing to fight Russia. Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for the commander of Ukraine's air force, said in a statement Thursday that foreign citizens will be able to join if they have suitable military training. Despite bipartisan calls in the US for President Joe Biden's administration to send F-16s, Biden himself said on February 24 that Ukraine "doesn't need F-16s now." Serhii Holubtsov, chief of aviation of Ukraine's Air Force, however, told The Times of London that Ukrainian fighter pilots would be ready to fly F-16 jets after fewer than six months of training.

☆ A US veteran joined Ukraine's International Legion, then made a shock defection to Russia. Ex-comrades say he was incompetent and left behind a trail of chaos.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Alia Shoaib | Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Those who fought with him in Ukraine told Insider he was unstable and erratic on the battlefield. "Bama is a highly unstable character," Nance told Insider. The warning signs continued, as McIntyre told Smith that he was wanted by the FBI for threatening to kill personnel at the White House, Smith. "As time went on, he confided to me that he had converted to Islam and that he was planning to do a jihad," Smith told Insider. "When you screw up, a company gets rid of you, pulls you off the line, and sends you back to the battalion," Nance told Insider.

☆ Russian soldier describes turning on his country to fight for Ukraine, driven by disgust at Putin's invasion: 'I've killed a lot of them'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Russian soldier fighting to defend Ukraine says he's killed many of his own countrymen in the war. The New York Times gained access to the little-known Free Russia Legion in Ukraine. The units have been kept under wraps due to the sensitivity of their role, the newspaper said. I do my job and I've killed a lot of them," he told the Times. They aren't Russian," he told the newspaper.

☆ A Ukrainian soldier died on the battlefield in Bakhmut. His death has sparked a fierce dispute between some American veterans and a volunteer trainer.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

While entering a house in Bakhmut, two Ukrainian soldiers were ambushed by Russian troops. While he was doing laundry, Wang said a dark-green SUV suddenly pulled up and he heard a Ukrainian soldier shout, "De medyky?" More muscle than the pork ribsWang, by his own admission, decided to take charge of rescuing the wounded Ukrainian soldier. Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesIn the phone conversation with Insider, Wang defended his involvement in the death of the Ukrainian soldier. A wider tapestry of issuesThe SOLI instructors said the Bakhmut deaths were just one part of a wider tapestry of issues caused by Wang's inexperience and overzealousness.

☆ The death of an American soldier fighting in Ukraine exposes chaos and dysfunction in the foreign legion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The widow, alongside other soldiers, told Insider about mismanagement and dysfunction in the legion. A Foreign Legion fighter looks on at wreckage in Ukraine following a Russian attack. "When we were told to go out again, in my mind I knew someone was going to die," AJ told Insider. "How everything was handled, especially after his death, was scandalous," Lipka told Insider. Mavericks told Insider he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and still mourns the deaths of his comrades.

LONDON — Another U.S. citizen has died fighting in Ukraine, two people with knowledge of his death told NBC News on Monday, bringing the number of Americans killed in Russia’s war to at least six. Griffin had been taking part in Ukraine’s counteroffensive on the eastern front, according to the International Legion. The next month, 52-year-old Stephen Zabielski of Hernando, Florida, was killed fighting in the village of Dorozhniank. And in July, the State Department confirmed that two more Americans had been killed in eastern Ukraine. Last week, the body of a fifth American killed in Ukraine, 24-year-old Joshua Jones, was returned by Russia to Ukrainian custody.

☆ Conor Kennedy, RFK's grandson and Taylor Swift's ex-boyfriend, says he went to fight in Ukraine and was 'willing to die there'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Conor Kennedy says he fought on the northeastern front of the Ukraine war. Kennedy said he kept his real name private when fighting with Ukraine's International Legion. In an Instagram post on October 14, he wrote that he joined Ukraine's International Legion of foreign fighters this year. "I didn't want my family or friends to worry, and I didn't want to be treated differently there," Kennedy wrote. Representatives for the International Legion did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Idaho man dies while fighting as volunteer in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The 34-year-old Idaho man died Tuesday from injuries sustained during during a Russian attack in Luhansk. “I have a picture of the truck,” Corry said in a phone interview Friday. “Sometimes it was harder for him to mesh in the civilian world.”When Russia invaded Ukraine, Partridge felt a need to help the Ukranians. At least four other U.S. citizens have been killed while fighting in Ukraine, based on reports from their families and the U.S. State Department. The Ukrainian government has recruited people with military experience to join the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine.

☆ Pushing East of Kupyansk, Ukrainian Forces Expand Offensive
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Yaroslav Trofimov | Photographs Manu Brabo For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

KUPYANSK, Ukraine—The grain elevator towering over the eastern edge of Kupyansk, the former seat of Russian power in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, was supposed to be defended by soldiers from an elite Russian unit. But when troops from Ukraine’s International Legion moved to seize the compound on Thursday, part of the developing Ukrainian military offensive east of the Oskil River, the expected firefight never happened.

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