Because they are volunteers, and not mercenaries. Only one side in this war uses mercenaries, and that’s Russia. Russians have thousands of mercenaries fighting for them, from the infamous Nazi Wagner group, to thousands of mercenaries from Libya and Syria.

Non-Ukrainians fighting for Ukraine are all volunteers. They are volunteers, because they volunteered to fight for Ukraine, and they are not employed by some private company, they are members of Armed Forces of Ukraine. That makes them regular Ukrainian soldiers, not mercenaries.

These people deserve utmost respect, they are highly moral, highly emphatetic, highly righteous, and highly principled people, who chose to do the right thing, even if they put themselves in harms way.

Each one of these people had the realization, that what Russia is doing, is evil. Each one of them decided, that it was their duty, to fight this evil. Each one of them decided, that they will do their duty, even if they put themselves in danger. Even if Russia does not respect the Geneva convention, or any other rules of war. Even if Russia murders POWs. In spite of all this danger, they have decided, that fighting evil is their duty, and that they were going to fulfill that duty, even if it costs them their lives.

I have nothing but respect for International Volunteers in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.


Volunteers of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine. People of honour, integrity, compassion and courage. I wish them a lot of success in demilitarizing Russians.

BTW, I suspect Russian trolls have a problem with the word volunteer, because nobody ever volunteers for Russia. Russia has to pay or coerce every single person in their military forces. Ukraine gets fighters for free, just because they are fighting for the right cause. It must be a source of awful envy for the Russian trolls, they suffer from a massive inferiority complex vis-a-vis the west, and now Ukraine is becoming the focus of international attention, the darling of the free world, attracting not just masses of military aid, but tens of thousands of foreign volunteers to fight on their side. And Russians get nothing but scorn.

Even after the family of a British soldier killed in Ukraine openly said his son was killed before getting his first paycheck. He was signed to a private military contractors. Same volunteers are also needed in Syria, Yemen and palestine