Many ex-Bundeswehr soldiers in action? Estimate of German volunteers leaks out

Apparently more and more foreigners are volunteering to help Ukraine as soldiers in the war against Russia. A number of Germans are probably among them. A photo went viral on Twitter.

Munich/Kyiv – Americans, Mexicans, British, Swedes, Lithuanians, Indians and also Germans. Reports that more and more foreign legionnaires are joining the Ukrainian armed forces to fight against the invading Russian forces are increasing every day.

Ukraine conflict: Thousands of foreign volunteers go to war against Russia

The news portal posted on Monday (March 7). The Kyiv Independent tweeted a photo of a group of young men described as an “international legion” within the Ukrainian volunteer associations. “According to Ukrainian ground forces, the volunteers came from the United States, Britain, Sweden, Lithuania, Mexico and India,” the post reads.

In addition to heavy weapons, some of the men wear Ukrainian uniforms and bulletproof vests with the Ukrainian national flag on them. As of Tuesday afternoon, 4 p.m., the post had already received almost 77,000 likes.

War against Russia: Ukraine also recruits Germans

the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reports that Ukraine is also recruiting Germans for its army for the war*. Rows of men would call Hansjürgen Doss, an honorary consul for Ukraine and a former CDU member of the Bundestag. Among them are (former) Bundeswehr soldiers, such as a medical colonel from the Palatinate or a paratrooper. Their goal: admission to the Foreign Legion of the Ukrainian reserve troops. Loud FAZ the Ukrainian consulate general in Frankfurt am Main is increasingly promoting it on Facebook.

Apparently the crowd is big. “Volunteers from 16 countries around the world have already come to Ukraine who are ready to fight back to back with the Ukrainian people against the aggressors,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told journalists in early March. “Their number is already more than a thousand People exceeded.” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in turn, publicly said: “Anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine*, Europe and the world can come and fight alongside Ukrainians against Russian war criminals.”

In the video: Compact – The news about the Ukraine war and the invasion of Russia

At least political Berlin didn’t want to set any hurdles. At a request from daily mirror at the interior and justice ministries, the federal government had declared that it would not prevent Germans from voluntarily participating in the war in Ukraine*. This applies to both the Ukrainian and the Russian side.

Loud world the planned international legion of Ukraine should grow to up to 16,000 soldiers. The newspaper quotes a 19-year-old German student who is not named. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” says the young man: “Not when (Vladimir) Putin* is threatening to destroy everything that has been built up in Europe over the past few decades.”

Ukraine War: International Foreign Legion deploys against Russian troops

A 30-year-old lawyer from Frankfurt also wanted to volunteer for Ukraine’s fight against Russia. He justified his motivation with the appearance of the Ukrainian President. “Zelenskyj is a brilliant speaker who can sweep people away and convince them that now is the moment to stand up for our freedom and democracy,” he said world.

the FAZ in turn, writes about a 30-year-old law student from near Berlin who is about to set off. But how many Germans want to fight on the ground and with weapons in their hands against the intentions of Moscow despot Vladimir Putin, which violate international law? There are only estimates.

An example: The Business Insider According to its own statements, it analyzed encrypted chat groups in which German Bundeswehr reservists are said to be planning a war effort as foreign legionnaires. Their number is said to be in the hundreds. Individual ex-soldiers are said to be already in the war zone. For classification: According to information from the Bundeswehr, there were up to 900,000 so-called reservists in Germany as of February 2022.

The volunteers will join legionnaires from other countries. According to British TheTimes for example with Rab Grady, a 61-year-old grandfather from Edinburgh, Scotland. They all have one goal in common: to help Ukraine. (pm) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA