Ukraine called Ukrainians from all over the world to join the offensive against Russia since its neighbour began the so-called military operation. Russia outnumbers Ukraine in terms of military prowess across every category and reservists and civilians have led the offensive against the Russian forces, according to news reports. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelesnky earlier called on reservists and Ukrainian civilians who have military experience to join the fight against Russia.
Volunteers from eastern European nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Scandinavian nations like Norway are enlisting to join the International Legion defending Ukraine.
A report by news agency Times Of India, said that an Indian student from Coimbatore has joined the international legion to fight Russian aggression. Sainikhesh Ravichandran, formerly a student of the National Aerospace University in Kharkiv joined the Georgian National Legion paramilitary unit composed of volunteers, people familiar with the developments told Times of India Chennai.
However, concerns remain regarding the safety of these individuals despite some of them being veterans because Russia said that it would treat foreign fighters as mercenaries and they would not be treated as per protections guaranteed by Geneva Convention for prisoners of war.
Foreign fighters are now entering the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, several news agencies reported. Earlier on Monday, the Pentagon, according to the Wall Street Journal, is hiring Syrians skilled in urban combat to fight in Ukraine. Russia has helped Syrian president Bashar-al-Assad fight the Islamic State and contain the Syrian civil war since 2011 and its president, Vladimir Putin, developed deep ties with Assad.
It is unclear as to how many of these fighters were hired but the Pentagon expressed concern that this could lead to an escalation of the conflict.
Russia has been accused of using private military contractors (PMCs) in Ukraine and Syria. These PMCs are not new to Russia and several nations including the US, the UK and China have used private military companies – primarily in restive regions of the world like western Africa’s Sahel region and in western Asia as well as Afghanistan.
The Wagner group was one of the private military companies, hired allegedly by Russia, to assist the armies of the so-called rebel republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014. Reports by magazine Foreign Policy suggest that they were also hired in Crimea to help with the annexation. During the initial week of the war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned that there were hit groups out looking for him and his family. Though he did not directly refer to Wagner, Ukrainian news agencies claimed that either the Wagner group or Chechen forces formed hit squads looking for Zelensky.
Private armies and mercenaries often help governments hide the true human cost of war as official statistics do not include deaths, injuries and maiming of mercenaries who participate in the war.
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