A contract obliges new recruits to Ukraine’s foreign legion to stay in the army for the duration of the war. None of the volunteers 1843mag spoke to had been told about these terms before they arrived
n February 26th Volodymyr Zelenksy, Ukraine’s president, went on television and asked foreign volunteers to take up arms in his country’s defence. Jake Priday, a 25-year-old British teacher from Cardiff in Wales, responded to the call. Priday had spent six years in the British army, doing tours of duty with the Royal Engineers in Estonia, Kenya and, most recently, Iraqi Kurdistan, where he helped train local militias in 2017.
The two vans were waved through each of the six checkpoints they passed. The volunteers were dropped off at a Ukrainian army base, a collection of yellow buildings with red tiled roofs, just before 3am. They were led inside one of the buildings to a room with no heating and 25 beds without sheets. The Ukrainians checked everyone’s passports and turned away one prospective volunteer, a Russian who worked in Dublin. He was told, according to Priday, that there was “no way” he could sign up.
The foreign legion does now appear to be adapting. Online application forms for new recruits ask for candidates with “military/combat/medical experience”.has heard reports that a new commander has been appointed. Veterans are now being winnowed out from those who have never seen combat – the latter now receive three weeks of training. A spokesman for Ukraine’s ministry of defence said that “we are focused on trained people. Untrained people are not going to be sent to the front”.
Priday implored the other volunteers not to sign. “I was trying to explain to them what martial law really means – and that it’s up to Ukraine to decide when it ends. It can be extended and extended. But no one at the base was explaining this to the volunteers. They just kept reiterating that you were getting paid for your services.”
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