Foreign Fighters

If you know any one fighting or considering to fight for Ukraine or in Ukraine (for NATO interests) share this link or some of this data with them to disillusion them

Jun 23, 2024

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Reading time: 22 minutes (or 24 minutes with footnotes)

Welcome to the peace initiative for Ukraine in which you can contibute by raising your awareness as well as your consciousness^[+] and spirit to the modes^[+] of neutrality^[*^], decency, respectfulness, wisdom^[*^], objectivity, mastery of the intellect, surrender (ego and mind to God’s will), and finally peace (inner then outer). To properly grasp everything, we recommend reading the articles of this peace initiative in the order that we^[*^] designed it, which is listed in the Contents. So if you haven’t read the previous articles, we urge you to do it, please. Did you read the this “Reality Checks” segment from the beginning? Please, do so for a better grasp of the topic of this article: The Real Beginning of the War in Ukraine.

This article is part of the subsegment (of the Reality Checks segment) dedicated to all things military, so we covered Military Power, Military Strategy, and Military Equipment, and now it is turn to discuss Foreign Fighters before we reveal the Military Ending and Zelensky’s Ending.

The war in Ukraine has motivated the involvement of many types of individuals – from volunteer fighters and amateur open-source investigators, to drone crowdfunders and meme warriors. And not to forget hacktivists as well as all the scholars used as “experts” as part of propaganda machine in the information warfare.

Foreign fighters in Ukraine are called “volunteers” rather than “mercenaries” even though they get paid (normally, volunteers do not get paid) by American or Western money given to Ukraine, which means they are de facto mercenaries. By legal definition^[+], “mercenary” is any soldier who receives any compensation (even if it is just mere feeding and housing) for his service. Volunteering means working voluntarily without pay. In a military context, mainly in the US, this is twisted, so a volunteer army is a military body whose soldiers chose to enter service, as opposed to having been conscripted, but do not work "for free" and are given regular pay.

In the United States troops raised as state militia were always described as "volunteers", even when recruited by conscription. In the US, they often cunningly give contrary names to make something bad appear good to the naïve masses, thus the US Department of Defense used to be called correctly the Department of War before they changed it in 1949, just as the Secretary of Defense (currently Lloyd J. Austin) used to be called the Secretary of War. The US Department of Defense is de facto the US Department of Offense because it is primarily engaged in offensive acts across the globe that have nothing to do with defending the US. Another example is the usage of a phrase such as “fighting for democracy and freedom” when in fact they fight for certain interest groups such as war profiteers but they cannot put it that way because they could not recruit enough idiots to die for that.

Since foreigners can't be conscripted in the war in Ukraine, it is pointless to label foreign fighters as “volunteers” so as to distinguish them from “conscripts”. There are no foreign conscripts and so no foreign volunteers. They might have volunteered to fight for Ukraine but that does not make them volunteers as long as they are compensated for their service. This is as wrong as it would be to label those who voluntarily enroll in a company as volunteers when such people are called employees.

Or, it is as wrong as it would be to label twitter users as “writers” just because they regularly write posts on twitter. Or, it is as wrong as it would be to label civilians who possess a weapon as “combatants”. So, let's not embellish the role of foreign fighters.

What is the difference between military volunteers and mercenaries? There is no official distinction but those who want to make their group sound more noble than the enemy say that their military volunteers fight primarily for ideology and mercenaries only for money. In other words, mercenaries are motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain, whereas volunteers are allegedly not but are there for a noble cause or some ideals. Well, in that case, they should not be called volunteers but ideologists, idealists, or simply foreign fighters or legionnaires (after all, they joined Ukraine's International Legion) rather than use the word “volunteers” (that stands for helping without any compensation). The motives for joining a conflict as a mercenary or volunteer can be a combination of many factors anyway, making it difficult to separate them purely on this basis.

To prove how this distinction between volunteers and mercenaries is nothing but a sham is the fact that the West calls all Russian Wagner fighters in Ukraine “mercenaries” even though their country is a party to the conflict (so they are neither “foreign” fighters nor mercenaries – by legal definition^[+], a mercenary is someone who is not a national of a party to the conflict; and Wagner fighters are indisputably motivated to fight for their country or ideology rather than financial gain, although many of them fight to get out of prison, too) but they call their own Western fighters “volunteers” – who is stupid enough to fall for such double standards?!
Also, Wagner soldiers who fight in Africa are called “mercenaries” by the West even though they are indeed motivated by ideology as their leader Prigozhin said^[»]^[+]: “We are always on the side of justice and on the side of those who fight for sovereignty and for the rights of their people”. Why then the West classifies them as “mercenaries” and foreign fighters in Ukraine as “volunteers”? There are, of course, legal hacks to call them volunteers and incorporate^[+] them into the Ukrainian Army so that if captured, they would be entitled to POW status1. But, to be fair, this should apply to both sides rather than using double standards.

All chicanery aside, a person who enlists in military service by free will (voluntarily) is no more a volunteer than a person who voluntarily enrolls in a company (such people are called employees, not volunteers). If you get paid for your service, you are not a volunteer and if you get paid to kill, you are a mercenary; end of discussion.

Regardless of foreigners’ own classification, the Russian Defence Ministry has declared those traveling to fight in Ukraine will be regarded as mercenaries, denying them combatant and POW status and increasing the risk of mistreatment.

Most foreigners are simply not well-educated and informed about the conflict, context, history, and law to be able to distinguish the good from the bad guys, so they just rely on authorities, whose duty is to disinform the public during war times to get the public to support the war and even go into the war. Too many people have been sucked into a hate system through lies and deceit, as well as their ignorance. Avid mass-media consumers are convinced that Russia’s “unprovoked” war was merely the start of a bloodthirsty campaign for global conquest, so they leave their families behind to go fight for the Ukrainian Government. Many Americans are so ignorant that they still think that Russians are communists and hate them for that (without even knowing why they hate communists at all; what have communists ever done to them?), and before 2022, many never even heard of Ukraine or thought that it was maybe some island in the Pacific or something like that^[»]^[+].

Most shallow people, especially foreign mercenaries, who are not trained to think with their own heads but to unquestioningly obey authorities, just look at superficial, one-sided, and biased facts served to them by their manipulative authorities and this is how they pick their side – like sheep, they are led to conclusions. After decades of being brainwashed about Russians being an evil enemy, narratives absorbed with mother's milk and later with beer have finally worked, as they got their motivation alright, so, when authorities tell them that “villain Russia invaded poor Ukraine” – that is all they needed to know to pick a side and fight the perceived common enemy, the Russians (like their heroes from all those Rocky, Rambo, Indiana Jones, James Bond, and other movies with Russian villains).

None of the sons of America’s and Europe's ruling elite, war profiteers, and intelligentsia would even think of taking up arms to die for Ukraine, so they covertly (because NATO's involvement is illegal) groom and mobilize their lower classes and immigrants with the herd mentality, low IQ, and dirty mouth to do the dirty work for them for peanuts. There are enough lowlifes, bums, good-for-nothings, desperadoes, football hooligans, juvenile delinquents, jailbirds, misfits, right-wing extremists, losers living in their mother's basement, and other such dumb machos or adrenaline junkies in the West who have nothing to live for thus are ready to die for a foreign country and are willing to go the distance, happy to be a cog in a killing machine, fodder for the war machine^[+]. There are enough insecure men who feel a need to prove themselves or prove their manhood or masculinity2 who came extra to Ukraine to demonstrate their support through virtue signaling and moral exhibitionism only to realize, often too late, that there is nothing virtuous about killing other human beings for the sake of some territorial dispute. Why there are no foreign pilots among the foreign volunteers? Because, to be a pilot, you need to be smarter than a regular soldier, which is proof that smart guys do not join Ukraine's International Legion.

Here is one of many stupid reasons why Western fighters join Ukrainians to fight the Russians: the leader of the Polish Volunteer Corps said^[»] he did it because in Ukraine one can go to the gay parade. It is wrong to fight for Ukraine because of gay parades – killing Russians for gay rights is wrong! Imagine if Putin did the same and killed gays for conservative rights! No double standards, please.

Many or most foreign fighters approach it as if they go on a safari but then realize, often too late, that nothing is there as they expected. Many experienced foreign soldiers thought it would be as easy as fighting goat farmers in Afghanistan and then had a nasty shock. Some joined just to be able to brag later about fighting or killing Russians in Ukraine.

“There are four types of people who join the military. For some, it's a family trade. Others are patriots, eager to serve. Next, you have those who just need a job. Then there's the kind who want a legal means of killing other people.“ – Jack Reacher, played by Tom Cruise in the film of the same name

Anybody who kills for money or pleasure or other personal gain (like Latin Americans joining AFU3 to kill the Russians for no other reason than to get a green card in America) is a disgrace for humanity. On any continent. It is very likely that in some cases, also mercenaries (who are called as such because their primary motivation is financial gain) engage in military operations motivated by a honorable ideology (that should be implemented without killings). Any foreigner who is willing to kill and die for the fascist^[*^] Ukrainian regime and war profiteers is probably not aware of it being fascist but that makes them stupid – one should be well-informed before getting involved and risking life. Anyone who is claiming to risk their lives for the sake of Ukrainians keeping their territorial integrity (because this is all what Ukrainian public wants), should educate themselves about it because they would be surprised that all the occupied territories have been Russian territories for centuries and Russians only assigned them to Ukraine during the Soviet era under the premise that Moscow keeps governing it.

After the collapse of the USSR, then Boris Yeltsin (who was a Western-puppet^[+], the US facilitated Yeltsin’s re-election in 1996^[+]^[+]^[+]), didn't object to it but allowed those territories to remain under Ukraine under certain legally binding conditions enclosed in treaties, all of which Ukraine violated^[*^] since 2014 (and some in 2008).

Also, foreign “volunteers”4 who voluntarily risk their lives for the sake of Ukrainians keeping their territorial integrity should think through why they are doing it when most Ukrainian men do not want to do that; they do not want to defend their country or the Kyiv regime5. From around 10 million Ukrainian men between the ages 20-50 and many more who are living abroad, only a few hundred thousand men have been willing to fight or die for their land; all the others either escaped the country, or were forced to fight^[»ꚛ]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»], or dodge^[»]^[»]^[+]^[»]^[»] going to the battlefront.

And, while foreigner “volunteers” abandoned their families and flew to Ukraine to fight and maybe die or get crippled for Ukraine's territorial integrity, spending the last days of their lives struggling in filthy trenches, many adult male Ukrainians enjoy themselves^[»]^[»], as they party at a Kyiv beach club^[»] or elsewhere^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»], go on a shopping spree^[»]^[»], have a good time, as this street interview^[»] shows, asking Ukrainian guys ”What do you do for Ukrainian victory?” All answers come down to “nothing”. Widespread draft-dodging was well documented on social media and was even discovered (or shall we say, finally revealed) by Ukrainian authorities.^[+]

Also, there are millions of ethnic Ukrainians living abroad^[+] who are not willing to fight for Ukraine, so why should then others do it?!

If the fact that Ukrainians themselves are not willing to fight for their cause or the Kyiv regime doesn't make foreign fighters seem like idiots, then maybe these insights^[+]^[+]^[+] into legionnaires’ complaints about the brazen misconduct of the International Legion leaders and other off-putting testimonials^[+]^[+] might do the job of getting them to come to senses and leave before it is too late. There are even cases^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»] when foreign mercenaries got beaten or attacked by Ukrainian soldiers and were shouting that “Ukrainians are worse than Russians”.

Thousands of foreign fighters deserted Ukraine amid war due to mistreatment and bad leadership^[»]. Violations of the heavy drinker military leadership include arms and goods theft, misappropriation, sexual harassment, assault, sending unprepared soldiers on suicide missions, abusing power by ordering soldiers to loot shops, and threatening soldiers with a gun. The foreign mercenaries are not just abandoning, they are running for their lives as the conditions are much worse than they expected, and having witnessed the battlefields firsthand, they realized that the prospect of Ukraine winning has drastically plunged.

And perhaps the worst of all is that some mercenaries did not get paid or got paid partly in fake dollars, as they say in these videos^[»]^[»]^[»] how they are bashed, starved, not paid and then sent to the most dangerous part to the front lines to die – this is how grateful Ukrainians are for risking your life for them. The overall decline in the number of foreign volunteers^[+] (who are actually mercenaries because they are fighting for money, not charity) is also telling.

And, with the Ukrainian military reportedly unwilling to collect even its own dead along hot sectors of the front line, the families of foreign fighters can wait for months for closure. For those captured alive, the situation is no less severe. Mercenaries are not entitled to any protections under the Geneva Convention – not entitled to the status of prisoner of war under international humanitarian law, which means they can be legally sentenced to death. Russia has no reason or incentive to spare them. They have more than enough Ukrainian POWs6 for prisoner swaps, whom they prefer to use for that as they still see them as brothers.

Worth considering is also the fact that the Russian Investigative Committee opened proceedings against foreign mercenaries, which put them on a “wanted” list that might get them caught anywhere in the world and prosecuted if they do not get killed beforehand fighting for Ukraine and war profiteers. Who wants to spend their whole life on guard, in hiding, with travel restrictions, and other such troubles (for the sake of supporting the fascist^[*^] Ukrainian regime and war profiteers) should have their heads examined, especially knowing that millions of perfectly fit Ukrainian men rather chill^[»]^[»], evade being drafted^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»]^[»], and take refuge abroad.

Worth considering is also the fact that foreign prisoners may be instrumentalized as hostage diplomacy bargaining chips^[+] to be exchanged for high-profile pro-Putin captives. This way, foreign fighters on the Ukrainian side end up serving Russian interests. Apart from being used to create leverage in negotiating their release, foreigners’ involvement in the conflict not only complicates but also prolongs the conflict.

Many of the Western soldiers (especially international neo-Nazis, American rednecks, British chavs, and Polish boors or radicals who have nothing better to do with their lives) joined Ukrainian forces not because they cared for Ukrainian territorial integrity or Ukrainians but because they either see this war as a place to act out their violent fantasies^[+] or jumped at the longed-for opportunity to “kill the Russians” and so revive long pent-up antagonism toward Russians that was instilled in them by decades-long anti-Russian American and British propaganda (including movies with Russian villains), which however had no roots in reality since present Russians never really did any harm to them. When asked what have Russians ever done to harm them or their nation, none of those Russophobes have an answer or they give some idiotic, brainwashed general responses^[+] (Russians are “predators”, “invaders”, “murderers”, “lawbreakers”, “rapists”…) that describe more Americans than Russians, while still not having one single answer about what have Russians in fact ever done to them or their nation, which points to them being indoctrinated. Nevertheless, many shallow or indoctrinated, bloodthirsty foreign fighters jumped at the chance to kill the Russians under the pretext of “fighting for democracy” or any other such cause picked up from their equally bloodthirsty warmonger leaders and war profiteers.

We find this type of shallow reasoning unintelligent and prefer to base our decisions and solutions on a deeper understanding of the conflict and context as well as historical and legal evaluations. This is how we crafted this peace initiative.

To end the horrific war ASAP diplomatically rather than militarily, we all need to stop being confrontational and recognize the underlying oneness beneath all the apparent dualities and dichotomies, as well as embrace the multipolar world order in which NATO and Russia, as well as other nations, are equals rather than rivals. Transcending rivalry or duality is not a denial of the existence of duality such as good or evil, but a confirmation that we all have good and evil in us, positive and negative traits, thus if we keep on scapegoating and vilifying one nation for years and decades (which is bullying and emotional abuse while it is in fact projecting^[+]), it is only natural they will start acting it out.^[+] In the field of behavior analysis in psychology, we know there is no such thing as a bad boy, only bad circumstances.^[+]

Military Ending

Let us make a vital point: Giant and mighty Russia would never allow their folk and diaspora to be harmed or oppressed and will fight as long as it takes for their fellow compatriots to stay liberated from the anti-Russian Kyiv regime. Besides, it will not tolerate the NATO military on its borders. Tensions between two military superpowers – NATO and Russia – are best resolved with Ukraine staying a neutral buffer zone between them, which is why Russia will do everything in its power to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and so becoming a home for the anti-Russian US military.

To this end, Russia will use all its military power, which can't be exhausted by NATO.

Either Russia will win the war against NATO in Ukraine or the world will be destroyed^[+].Russia is a nuclear power and will not hesitate to use it if it feels threatened by NATO. And let us bear in mind that just as Ukraine has allies in the West (NATO states), Russia has great allies in the East^[+] (China, India, Iran, Arab countries), and the Global South, comprising a majority of humanity, which didn't need to engage so far but would if necessary.

So, the main question is: Is Ukraine’s moot territorial integrity worth World War III? Throughout the history, borders have been shifting all the time and who is to say what borders are right or not? The native residents of the territories have a right to self-determination, as it is enshrined in the UN Charter, and those in the five regions of former Ukraine (and former Soviet Union, and former Russian Empire) democratically voted to secede from Ukraine and rejoin Russia, so let's all be grownup about it and deal with it! If Serbian territorial integrity was not honored and independence is granted to Kosovo, why should Ukraine be any different? No double standards, please.

There is no point in resisting the Russian army as it is superior to the NATO-backed Ukrainian army and because it was never the intention of Russia to occupy Ukraine but to denazify and demilitarize it. It is the fault of Zelensky and Kyiv regime that they lost lives and territories just because they did not want to remain neutral. The Russian government doesn’t want to govern the hostile Ukrainians; it just wants to help or govern the appreciative Russians, who chose to be annexed by Russia rather than the EU (as per Kyiv’s plan to join the EU and NATO and adapt to the rules and regulations of non-Slavs).

The Ukrainian Russophiles7 re-joined Russia of their own accord, they were not forced at all or invaded but liberated, therefore this was not an invasion of them but protection from the Ukrainian regime and army, so they see the Russian army as a salvation army. It is Ukrainian nationalists who have been killing and terrorizing them, coercing them to turn back on Russia (with the application to join NATO in 2008 and the anti-Russian European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement^[+] in 2014), and suppressing the use of their native Russian language^[+], as well as banning Russian TV channels^[+], radio, newspapers, and the import of books from Russia, just to name a few discriminatory measures.

This is like if the Canadian or Swiss or Belgian government would ban the free use of French language in Quebec or Romandy or Wallonia and then killed thousands of French-speaking protesters and called them terrorists! Or, if the Brits would forbid the Scots to use their language and kill them if they protested? Or, in any other bilingual country! Putin tried for 8 years to resolve the issue through diplomacy but found out that Kyiv and its backers never meant to implement the Minsk agreements^[+]^[+] and were only trying to fool him^[+]^[+]^[»]^[+] to buy time to militarize Ukraine to kill the resistance and the (ethnic) Russians. Would France or any other country wait 8 years to use force to stop their diaspora from being killed every day?

The world should have condemned Ukraine for violating linguistic rights and supported the Russian ethnic minority but instead the West has supported the Kyiv regime that has been evidently violating the human rights!

Rather than adding fuel to the fire by empowering Ukrainians with weapons of massive destruction, the West8 should have been empowering them with weapons of massive construction – constructive instruments to resolve their disputes, such as educating the Ukrainians on human rights and obliging them to honor the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights^[+] (which they violated) as well as violated provisions of the treaties with Russia, such as the Minsk agreements^[+]^[+] and The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership^[*^] – that is all Russia wanted before the West intervened and provoked Russia to make further demands. The goals of the special operation are changing according to the current situation, but in general, they remain the same.

As former Israeli PM Bennett^[+]^[+]^[+]^[»]^[»], Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu^[+], former German Chancellor Schröder^[+]^[+], and many more^[+]^[+]^[»]^[»]^[+»]^[+]^[+]^[+]^[+]^[+]^[+]^[+]^[+] spilled the beans, having been intermediaries between the belligerents in the first weeks of Russian military intervention, it was the US and UK leaders who blocked^[+] a peace deal. Ukrainian and Russian delegations agreed to major concessions^[+]^[+]^[+] during peace talks and a peace deal could have been reached were it not for American and British leaders’ sabotage. Or were it not for Zelensky's error of judgment or being a Western puppet. Putin agreed to withdraw Russian troops (which is also proof of his non-imperialistic intentions) and Zelensky agreed that Ukraine would not join NATO. Putin dropped his former demands of demilitarization and denazification in Kyiv and allowed Ukraine to keep its sovereignty (if one can call it like that due to total dependance on the West). But Zelensky then receded under pressure from the West^[+]. The main dealbreaker was then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson^[+]^[+]^[+] but we all know who pulled his strings. Nonetheless, Zelensky blew it. The war is on him. On his weakness of being manipulable by the Western bloodthirsty warmongers. Zelensky's presidential campaign's real slogan may have been: “Because a hawkish comedian with no political experience and no diplomacy education is just what our country needs.” Let that be a lesson to all to vote for someone with leadership and political experience as well as with stamina not to break under foreign pressure.

The misconception that the war will end as soon as Ukrainians and Russians find common ground makes many politicians and analysts draw the wrong conclusions.

Let’s face it, Ukraine can’t sustain a war against a superpower by crowdfunding forever. Even if NATO agrees to endlessly supply them with weapons, they will never dare to engage as this would start a nuclear war and not many are really ready to die for Ukraine anyway, they just want to weaken and harm Russia. Also, UN troops are officially vetoed to engage, so stubborn Ukraine is doomed to lose most of its men in combat to no avail. What good would be a victory anyway if most men would be dead at the end of it? Is territorial integrity worth all these orphans, widows, cripples, and mountains of the dead? If like in Syria, this war continues for a decade or years due to NATO’s military aid, Ukraine would end up with a population consisting mostly of women, children, and the old, besides the corrupt politicians who prefer to force others into fighting than do it themselves and are incompetent to find a diplomatic solution to prevent and end the war.

In case anyone needs a refresher on how long and devastating a war in Europe can last, let the Yugoslav War be a lesson to us all. Against a much weaker adversary than Russia – Serbia, it took the separatists of Croatia (backed by the West) more than 4 years to end the independence war^[+] and 7 years in total to reintegrate all its occupied territories, even with Slovenes, Kosovar Albanians, Bosniaks, and Macedonians as allies and the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR, 3 years, nearly 39.000 troops), huge longstanding German military and humanitarian aid, US Military Professional Resources Inc.^[+], and NATO air strikes^[+].

Likewise, Russian separatists (freedom fighters) backed by Russia and other allies may claim their freedom and victory, too, after years of fighting the repressive regime.

Is Ukraine willing like Serbia to resist for years and years those who want to separate from them and then lose in the end? Russian ethnic groups in Donbas9 and Crimea have enormous support from Russia and other allies, so there is no way they will surrender after being subjected to atrocities since 2014.

If the Kyiv regime wanted to win over the residents in the east and south where Russian ethnic minorities consist majority (altogether some 8 million of them lived there before the conflict in 2014), it should have found a way to assure them that it would not further violate their fundamental human rights. But it did the opposite by escalating the tyranny. Now it is too late.

Ukrainians should accept this peace initiative while they still can because, with time, Russia will gain more and more leverage, which would empower them to demand more. Russians started a military operation with the intention to demilitarize or incapacitate Ukrainian military infrastructure that was terrorizing Russians in the Donbas region. However, all the hostile actions of the NATO states that have been sending military aid to fuel the war have agitated them to the point that they seized more territory than initially planned.

If Ukraine accepts this peace initiative, it may call it a draw – consider the result equally pleasing. Otherwise, Ukraine will lose the war and even more lives and territories. Please, be wise, stop prolonging this war unnecessarily by accepting this peace initiative.

Thank you for reading this article and participating in this peace initiative by raising your awareness and, hopefully, your consciousness and spirit. To properly grasp everything, we^[*^]recommend reading the articles of this peace initiative for Ukraine in the proper order, which is listed in the Contents. So if you haven’t read the previous articles, we recommend that you do. This article is part of the “Reality Checks” segment exposing and debunking NATO & Kyiv propaganda. When you are ready, please proceed to the next article in this series: Zelensky’s End Prospects

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