Ukraine is at war with Russia. With Russian soldiers closing in to central Kyiv, Ukraine needs more manpower, and it needs it fast.
Among other reasons, Ukraine's government has launched a website to recruit foreign volunteers to an "international legion" to fight the invading Russians.
This campaign that also happens on social media networks, followed the repeated calls by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who asked for outsiders to join in his country's defense.
Ukraine that needs all the help it can get.
The President who has banned all men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country, has said it several times that Ukraine welcomes foreigners who wish to join the Ukrainian forces. Zelensky even signed a decree that introduces visa-free entrance to Ukraine for foreign volunteers that came into effect on March 1, 2022.
As quoted on the website, Zelensky said that:
Zelensky's office announced the website's launch on March 5, saying that "foreigners who want to help Ukraine can find a detailed, step-by-step instruction on the website on how to join the just fight with the aggressor."
First, it suggested that people contact the Ukrainian Embassy in their respective countries, and bring the required documents.
"It is recommended, if available, to bring your military kit, such as clothing or its elements, equipment, helmet, body armor, etc.," the website added.
Second, the Ukrainian recruitment website said that volunteers can sign contracts with the government upon their arrival to Ukraine.
"Upon arrival to the collection point in Ukraine, join the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine (sign the contract) and engage the Russian occupiers together with fighters from all over the world and Ukrainian soldiers," the website said.
As a result of this, Ukraine's embassies become recruitment centers for citizens who wish to join the fight.
In Washington for example, diplomats who work for the embassy in a townhouse in the Georgetown section of the city, are receiving thousands of offers from volunteers who wish to fly to Ukraine and fight on Ukraine's side against the Russian.
"They really feel that this war is unfair, unprovoked," said Ukraine’s military attaché, Maj. Gen. Borys Kremenetskyi. "They feel that they have to go and help."
And when asked about the volunteers, Kremenetskyi said that they aren't people who wish to war for their own financial gains.
"This is not mercenaries who are coming to earn money," he said. "This is people of goodwill who are coming to assist Ukraine to fight for freedom."
Not all people who wish to join are accepted.
As a matter of fact, more than half of them didn't make it past even the initial interview. Most of the people lacked the required military experience, had a criminal background, too young or too old.
Kremenetskyi who spoke to the press after returning from the Pentagon for discussions on the military hardware his country needs for its defense, said he appreciates the support from both the U.S. government and the public.
"Russians can be stopped only with hard fists and weapons," he said.
Things however, are a bit different in Africa.
A number of citizens have started applying to Ukraine's embassies in their respective nations, wishing to join the war.
But unlike many from the West, many citizens in Africa who wish to fly to Ukraine are financially motivated.
"If Ukraine decides to pay me a very good amount of money, which I know I cannot earn here, I will definitely go there and fight," said a student in Kenya.
"If an opportunity presented itself for me to fight in Ukraine as a mercenary, I would be on my heels running there," said another applicant, who is unemployed.
"I would rather die on the front line in Ukraine knowing that my family would be compensated even after my death, rather than die in Kenya from depression because of the insane unemployment rate!," said another.
Many of those people said that "they would rather die there fighting than die in this country from poverty."
It should be noted though, that at this time, the U.S. government strongly discourage Americans from going to fight in Ukraine, fearing that it will raise legal and national security issues.
Not only in the U.S., as such participation in foreign conflicts is also banned in many countries.
The UN Mercenary Convention of 2001 also prohibits the recruitment, use, financing, and training of mercenaries.
Many African countries have come out strongly to condemn Ukraine's call for African fighters to join this "International Defense Legion of Ukraine" against the Russian invasion.
Nigeria for example, has issued warning on Twitter to its citizens, saying that it would never tolerate any recruitment of mercenaries to fight alongside Ukrainian forces against the Russians.
In Senegal, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was astonished to learn that the Embassy of Ukraine in Dakar had posted an appeal on its Facebook page for foreign citizens to come to Ukraine's military defense.
Although Ukraine's Embassy in Senegal has since deleted the post, many young Senegalese were eager to fight in Ukraine.
Things become rather chaotic on social media networks, when the platforms have become a warzone between those who back Ukraine and those for sided with Russia.
Three weeks into the war, the Ukrainian government said that about 20,000 foreigners from various nations have already joined.
In response to the announcement, Russia warned foreign fighters that they would not be treated as lawful combatants.
"I wish to make an official statement that none of the mercenaries the West is sending to Ukraine to fight for the nationalist regime in Kyiv can be considered as combatants in accordance with international humanitarian law or enjoy the status of prisoners of war," said Major General Igor Yevgenyevich Konashenkov is the chief spokesman for the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
"At best, they can expect to be prosecuted as criminals. We are urging all foreign citizens who may have plans to go and fight for Kyiv’s nationalist regime to think a dozen times before getting on the way."
This echoes Russian President Vladimir Putin, who once warned foreign powers of unprecedented "consequences" if they interfere.
In other words, in the battlefield, foreign nationals siding with Ukraine can be considered threats that need to be eliminated.
