Germans volunteer to fight against Russia in Ukraine

The Russian invasion began a day before German national Siegfried planned to leave Ukraine. The blasts woke him up, wrote theocal, followed albinfo. ch

Then it was clear that the war had begun,” says he two weeks later by phone from Kiev. Siegfried stood by and joined the Ukrainian volunteer army, the so-called territorial protection.

My “I thought it was a coward's gesture and too stupid to leave this war”, he says.

In the early 40s, he is now a platoon leader, Siegfried says. He has about 30 people under his command who are preparing to protect the Ukrainian capital as reinforcements for the armed forces. As a young man, he carried out military service with Bundeswehr (German army), trained as factory technician and worked as a trucker in Canada.

From 2015 onward he joined Ukrainian forces for several years, he says. The only answer that will stop the Russian Army from further attacks is a military defeat,” he claims.

While no one knows for certain how many foreign fighters have arrived, claims made in Ukrainian media suggest numbers of up to 20,000 from 52 different countries. Ukrainians say foreign fighters will be rewarded with citizenship, but do not receive salaries and therefore cannot be considered mercenaries.