Ukraine calls world for help
Germans also sign up for the volunteer army
03/11/2022, 08:11 am
The call for help from Ukraine attacked by Russia is followed by people from many countries ready to fight on the ground. Kyiv wants to form an “International Legion” out of them. Hundreds of German citizens are said to already belong to the volunteer army. Russia threatens the foreign fighters.
The war caught up with Siegfried a day before he was scheduled to leave Ukraine. Detonations woke him up, he says – now, two weeks later – by telephone from Kyiv. “It was clear then that the war had begun.” The German stayed and joined the Ukrainian volunteer army, the so-called territorial defense. “The motives? I found it too cowardly and stupid to flee from this fight,” he says.
A Polish woman and a Polish volunteer waiting to cross the border to fight Russian forces.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/AP)
Now, in his early 40s, he is a train driver, as he says. He is responsible for about 30 people in a force that is preparing to defend the Ukrainian capital as a reinforcement of the armed forces. They would have simple weapons like the Kalashnikov assault rifle. More protective vests, vehicles and night vision devices would be needed – and more weapons in general.
As a young man, he did military service with the paratroopers of the Bundeswehr, was a trained systems engineer and worked as a trucker in Canada, says Siegfried. From 2015 onwards – after the annexation of Crimea and because of the war in Donbass – he joined the Ukrainian armed forces for several years. Now he says: “The only answer that keeps the Russian army from further attacks is a military defeat.”
Hundreds of Germans are fighting in Ukraine
According to information from Ukrainian government circles, several hundred German citizens traveled to Ukraine to fight against the Russian attackers. The Ukrainian media are rushing with figures on how many foreigners are supposed to have signed up for a planned “International Legion”. Numbers of more than 20,000 volunteers from 52 countries are circulating.
Deputy Interior Minister Yevheniy Yenin declined to provide any specific information on Ukrainian television on Tuesday: “I would like to emphasize that their number is increasing.” There are those responsible for border protection and the migration service who organize entry into Ukraine. After that, the volunteers would be looked after by the Ministry of Defence. “They receive a corresponding contract, receive a military ID card that replaces the residence permit,” explained Jenin. In the future, they would be able to acquire Ukrainian citizenship.
“These are volunteers, there is no pay”
There are no exact numbers on how many foreign volunteers there are – it is said to be tens of thousands. This young Canadian, the actor Anthony, is also among them.
(Photo: picture alliance/dpa/MAXPPP)
The Ukrainian armed forces emphasize that they are not mercenaries. “These are volunteers, there is no pay,” says government circles. They shouldn’t be accused of fighting for money. For the time being, the figures cannot be independently verified. In the case of the Germans, it fails because there are no border controls when leaving the Federal Republic by land. For example, German security authorities only have the movements of recognized right-wing extremists on their screens. According to information from the dpa, three such departures to the war zone were recently recorded.
A week ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on foreigners to join the International Legion to fight Russia in Ukraine. He named a target of 16,000 fighters. The first volunteers from abroad have already arrived. Selenskyj: “They come to defend freedom, life. For us, for all of us.” On the internet and in social media, help is advertised with sometimes martial films aimed at “all the heroes of the free world”. “Join the fight for freedom, human rights, the free world.”
Russia threatens: no right to prisoner of war status
Russia advises fighters from other countries to “think seven times” beforehand.
(Photo: picture alliance / AA)
Meanwhile, Russia is threatening foreign fighters: “I would like to officially emphasize that all mercenaries sent from the West to help the nationalist Kiev regime (…) have no right to prisoner-of-war status,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. according to the Interfax news agency. They should “think seven times before leaving”. Russia will “hold them criminally responsible if they are apprehended”.
From a German perspective, Ukrainian nationals living in Germany can travel to their home country without sanctions to take part in the defense there. This also applies to German-Ukrainian dual nationals. “This cannot be prohibited under German law. It is possible, so to speak,” said a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior last week. The basic rule for dual nationals is that they can lose German citizenshipif they voluntarily join the armed forces of their other home country, but not in compulsory military service.
Possible criminal liability in Germany
The situation is different again when volunteers only have German citizenship. According to a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Justice, if someone from this group takes part in combat operations, international humanitarian law is decisive for possible criminal liability. “If an act of killing or injury is permitted under international law, then it is not punishable under German criminal law either,” she said. So it’s not strictly forbidden to join the defense.
On the Ukrainian side in Berlin, however, nobody wants to comment on the German volunteers. The reason for this is in the German penal code, paragraph 109h, and may surprise many. “Anyone who recruits a German for military service in a military or military-like institution for the benefit of a foreign power, or who sends their recruiters or military service to such an institution, will be punished with imprisonment from three months to five years,” it says. Even the attempt is punishable.