Ukraine’s embattled president has issued a call to foreign nationals who are “friends of peace and democracy” to travel to the country to fight against the Russian invasion.
The appeal from Volodymyr Zelenskiy, published on the Ukrainian presidency’s website early on Sunday, said the Ukrainian armed forces were in the process of setting up a foreign legion unit for international volunteers.
“This is the beginning of a war against Europe, against European structures, against democracy, against basic human rights, against a global order of law, rules and peaceful coexistence,” the statement said.
“Anyone who wants to join the defence of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals.”
The call was repeated on Twitter by Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, and was expected to be the focus of his briefing for international media on Sunday afternoon.
Foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and world order as part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, I invite you to contact foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine in your respective countries. Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) February 27, 2022