"[13] On 7 March, the Ukrainian Armed Forces released the first image of International Legion soldiers in trenches on the outskirts of Kyiv and announced that new groups were being deployed to the front each day.

"[22] On 11 April 2023, defense minister Oleksiy Reznikov invited foreign F-16 pilots to join the international legion and fly combat missions for Ukraine, as well as those who know how to maintain Western-made artillery and tanks.

Sebastiaan Faber of Oberlin College in the U.S. argued that depicting the Legion as part of a war between fascism and anti-fascism risks playing "into the Kremlin's narrative, which seeks to portray the "special military operation" as an effort to "denazify" its western neighbor."

For those who recently left military service and are thus expected to have a strong foundation of combat skills and drills, only 1–2 weeks of training is required to familiarize them with Ukrainian communications and command structure.

[4][40] Marco Bocchese, an assistant professor of international relations at Webster Vienna Private University, called the claim of 20,000 volunteers "pure propaganda".

[61] On 13 March 2022, the Ukrainian embassy in Buenos Aires posted on its social media to recruit Argentinian citizens who wanted to join the International Legion.

[126] The Ukrainian embassy in Brussels confirmed on 15 March that 18 Belgian residents had arrived in Ukraine to enlist in the international legion while a further 92 had expressed interest in joining.

El Espectador managed to get in touch with one of the former Colombian soldiers, identified as Camilo Sánchez, who said in the interview he and the group of ex-soldiers had contacted a Ukrainian military official to enlist.

[160] Prior to the formation of International Legion, Balkan Insight reported that 20–30 Croatians joined the Ukrainian Azov Battalion to fight in the War in the Donbas in 2014–2015.

It is a voluntary effort and it is not up to any State institution to suggest it, encourage it or promote it.”[175] The parliamentary groups of Estonia's Riigikogu are currently debating whether to allow Estonian citizens to volunteer to fight for Ukraine.

"[citation needed] The justice minister did note, however, that rules exist according to which if someone joins another country's military to fight, then they should inform the state and be granted specific permission to do so.

[citation needed] According to a report in March 2022 by Helsingin Sanomat, the Finnish Defence Forces does not recommend or advise Finns to apply to fight for a foreign cause.

The participation of any Hong Konger in the international legion was first officially documented in a thank-you video posted on Twitter on 18 December 2022 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence.

[81] Over 500 Indians from across the country, including some veterans have submitted applications volunteering to join the International Legion created to fight Russian forces in Ukraine.

[192] Oz Katerji, a freelance war correspondent based in Kyiv, tweeted on 1 March that "a group of Kurds have joined the Ukrainian foreign legion" to fight against Russia.

[96] According to lawyers interviewed, a Japanese person who works under a foreign military to wage war against another country could potentially be charged under Article 93 of the Penal Code.

[219] On 11 November, Tokyo has confirmed that a Japanese volunteer was killed fighting Russian troops,[220] in only days after mourning his Taiwanese comrade's death in the Luhansk front.

[225] In early March 2022, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine reported Mexican volunteers had joined the International Legion in defense of Kyiv.

The Ukrainian defense ministry said on its Telegram channel on 30 March that commanders of the Freedom of Russia Legion were visiting detained former Russian military personnel "in order to select those who wish to serve.

[95] On 3 March, Senegal's foreign ministry condemned a social media post by the country's Ukrainian embassy calling for volunteers as illegal under Senegalese law.

[252] In a BBC Focus Africa program on 23 June 2022, Russian Ministry of Defense officials claimed that four Senegalese volunteers were killed while under Ukrainian command.

She also said the embassy in Pretoria had received hundreds of requests to volunteer from people from across the region, including Madagascar, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, and Botswana.

[255] Various news sources claim a well-known South Korean Navy SEAL team is already in Ukraine fighting, which includes YouTube/TV celebrity Ken Rhee.

[276] Some members of groups opposing Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian Civil War have attempted to travel to Ukraine, motivated by Russia's support of the Assad regime.

[285] On 2 November, a 25-year-old Taiwanese indigenous veteran Tseng Sheng-guang (Chinese: 曾聖光) serving in Carpathian Sich Battalion, was reported as the first East Asian soldier killed in action in the war,[286][287] after covering 3 colleagues to retreat under a tank siege during the eastern Ukraine campaign in Luhansk Oblast.

[45] On 15 August 2022, three captured British citizens, two International Legion volunteers and an aid worker, pleaded not guilty to charges of fighting as mercenaries in a court in the Donetsk People's Republic.

[229] José David Chaparro, a Venezuelan from San Cristóbal who settled in Kyiv in the early 1990s and served as Venezuela's chargé d'affaires in Moscow between 2001 and 2005, enlisted in the Territorial Defense Forces in the second day of the invasion along with his wife and became the commander of a division of Ukrainian volunteers.

[337] Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that by 6 March 2022 more than 20,000 volunteers from 52 countries had enlisted to fight for Ukraine; several thousand more reportedly joined after the announcement.

[4][338] Marco Bocchese, an assistant professor of international relations at Webster Vienna Private University, called the claim of 20,000 volunteers "pure propaganda".

[9][364][365] A legion member from the Faroe Islands named Bjørn told Euronews that of the recruits that end up at the front, 20% leave after 2–5 missions because they realise that "war is hell".