Foreign Volunteers in the Defense Forces of Ukraine (Since 2014)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2025.04.043Keywords:
Russia’s war against Ukraine, Defence Forces of Ukraine, international volunteer formations, foreign volunteers.Abstract
The purpose of the article is to highlight the activities of foreign volunteers in the Defence Forces of Ukraine since 2014, to determine their characteristics, role, and contribution to strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities in repelling Russian armed aggression.
The methodological basis of the study was the principles of historicism, impartiality. The use of a number of general scientific (scientific analysis and synthesis, periodisation and classification, typological method) and special (problematic-chronological and historical-comparative) research methods. Interdisciplinary research tools at the intersection of history, political science, jurisprudence, public administration, and military affairs were also used.
The scientific novelty lies in establishing the inseparability of the process of creation and functioning of volunteer formations with the participation of foreigners since 2014, analysing the legal grounds for engaging foreigners with military (combat) experience in military service in the Defence Forces of Ukraine. The authors of the article describe the main volunteer formations with the participation of foreigners that took part in repelling Russian armed aggression against Ukraine and make an attempt to classify foreign volunteers according to the motivation for participation in the Russo-Ukrainian war on the side of Ukraine.
Conclusions. Since 2014, Ukraine attracted foreign volunteers to legitimate armed formations of Ukraine and created military units and subunits staffed mainly by foreign volunteers. The regulatory framework for legitimising their participation in repelling the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine was constantly improved. The main purpose of volunteer formations with the participation of foreigners was established — to provide the Defence Forces of Ukraine with motivated human resources with combat experience and professional training. During the armed struggle of Ukraine against the aggressor, the number of volunteer units consisting of foreigners and the number of foreign volunteers in the ranks of the Defence Forces of Ukraine have increased significantly and tend to increase.
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