Around 700 Ukrainian living abroad apply to join foreign legion
- 15 November, 11:05
Some 700 Ukrainians living in Europe have signed up to join Ukrainian Foreign Legion, a military unit composed of foreign volunteers, as the war with Russia is entering third year soon.
“The [Foreign] Legion’s recruitment center has received about 700 applications from Ukrainians from around Europe so far,” the defense ministry representative said on social media on Tuesday. The applicants are Ukrainians living across Europe, including Ireland and Germany.
The defense ministry said that the Ukrainian consulate in Polish city of Lublin had “hosted the signing of contracts by the first group of Ukrainian citizens living abroad to serve in the Ukrainian Legion.” The ministry did not specify how many Ukrainians signed up for the army but said the volunteers would be sent to training ground in Poland.
“The training will last 35 days, after which the servicemen will be able to continue their training in their chosen specialties at NATO bases in Europe,” Ukrainian media quoted army Colonel Petro Gorkusha as saying.
Earlier in October, the defence ministry revealed that Kyiv opened a first recruitment office in the Polish city of Lublin with the aim of encouraging Ukrainians to enlist in the Foreign Legion. The move came amid forced conscriptions across Ukraine as the country is running out of military reserves.
Last month, Kyiv announced a plan to draft 160,000 people into its army over the next three months. Earlier this year Kyiv estimated that around 300,000 Ukrainians of combat age were living in neighbouring Poland.
Ukrainian Foreign Legion, a military unit of Ukrainian Ground Forces, was set up by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s order in February 2022 to fight again full-fledged invasion of the country.
