The International Legion of Ukraine

Abstract

In the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky established an International Legion and thousands of foreign volunteers came to defend the country. Matteo Pugliese examines the structure of the Legion, its recruitment process, the volunteers’ origin and their reasons to enlist. Relying on conversations and interviews carried out in July 2022 at the Legion’s premises and in other locations across Ukraine, he argues that the Legion represents only a small portion of Ukraine’s foreign volunteers, who came mainly from the West and Latin America with a diverse set of backgrounds and motivations.◼