An influx of thousands of Western volunteers to fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine has heartened Ukrainian officials while simultaneously spurring the Kremlin to issue a dire threat against the members of this growing force.
“None of the mercenaries the West is sending to Ukraine to fight for the nationalist regime in Kyiv can be considered as combatants in accordance with international humanitarian law or enjoy the status of prisoners of war,” said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov on Thursday, per Russian state media.
That threat represented an emphatic effort to discourage the growing force, which has taken shape in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for combat veterans from European countries to join the fight. About 16,000 people have volunteered, the Ukrainian leader announced as he touted their aid as a vivid example of the Western support against the Russian invasion.
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“Ukraine receives weapons from its partners on a daily basis,” Zelensky said Thursday, according to an official translation. “From real friends. More and more powerful weapons every day. Ukraine is already meeting foreign volunteers who are going to our country. The first of 16,000. They are going to defend freedom. Defend life. For us. For all. And it will be successful. I’m sure.”
The volunteers already represent the information war around the physical conflict. Russian officials portrayed the invasion as an effort to liberate the Ukrainian people from the clutches of a small group of leaders whom Russian President Vladimir Putin has characterized as neo-Nazis. The fierce resistance to the invasion nationwide has undermined the idea the Ukrainian people support the Russian attack, but Putin sought to preserve that narrative and avoid responsibility for the Russian attacks on civilian targets.
“The fact that we are fighting against neo-Nazis is proven by how the hostilities are going,” Putin said Thursday, according to a state-media interpreter. “Nationalists and neo-Nazi units that are using foreign mercenaries from the Middle East. Also, they use civilians as human shields, hiding behind their backs. And we have facts — we have pictures — of how they deployed heavy weapons in the residential areas of their cities.”
Video footage of fighting around Ukraine broadcast on social media has shown widespread attacks on civilian and residential targets by Russian forces. Many Western military analysts have interpreted these bombardments as a tactical shift by Russia, which initially sought to overthrow Zelensky’s government through a quick-strike operation.
“They enjoy the fact that God does not give an instant rebuff. But he sees. And he answers,” Zelensky said Thursday. “And we say to Russia: Learn the words ‘reparations’ and ‘contributions.’ You will repay everything you did against Ukraine. In full. And we will not forget those who perished, and God won’t.”
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Russia’s Defense Ministry vowed its own retribution for foreign volunteers found among Ukrainian forces.
“At best, they can expect to be prosecuted as criminals,” said Konashenkov, the Defense Ministry spokesman. “We are urging all foreign citizens who may have plans to go and fight for Kyiv’s nationalist regime to think a dozen times before getting on the way.”
