DISINFO: Terrorists, drug dealers and NATO soldiers serve as mercenaries in Ukraine
SUMMARY
Terrorists, drug dealers and NATO members in a single rank of mercenaries in Ukraine. The scale of the system of supplying militants to the front established by the West is indicated by the number of the so-called "International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine", which has reached 18 thousand people from more than 85 countries of the world, including the post-Soviet states.
Polish, French and Georgian militants are especially widely present in Ukraine. Recently, we have been recording an increase in the number of mercenaries in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Latin American countries. The ongoing transfer of foreign mercenaries and militants of international terrorist organisations to Ukraine confirms the West's focus on increasing the intensity of military action.
RESPONSE
Pro-Kremlin media promote repeated narratives about the large-scale presence of foreign “mercenaries” within the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Foreign fighters in Ukraine are incorporated into the Ukrainian forces and are not classified as mercenaries or members of Private Military Contractors. This practice is common in various armies. Ukraine has called on experienced foreign nationals to join its foreign legion. Foreigners who serve in Ukraine's International Legion, are fully legal servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine rather than mercenaries. Foreign volunteers, who officially joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, under the 1977 protocol to the Geneva Conventions (Part I, Article 1), fight against the Russian occupiers in Ukraine legally, as they are a part of the structure of subordination to Ukrainian government agencies.
As pointed out by experts, the nationality of the soldier is not an issue:
"Combatants are members of the armed forces of a party to the conflict or volunteers corps incorporated therein. According to the ICRC Commentary to Article 4, the requirement for membership in the armed forces, or the incorporation of the volunteer corps, is a matter of domestic regulation. However, the incorporated unit must be a professional fighting force, fulfilling the criteria spelled out in Article 4A(2) of Geneva Convention III, and be subordinate to the regular army command. The fact that an individual is a national of a third State and not a national of the armed forces in which they are serving is widely considered to be irrelevant when it comes to determining combatant or POW status."
Mercenaries participate in armed conflicts illegally and can be held criminally liable for participating in hostilities. Mercenaries, according to international law, are not citizens or official military personnel of a belligerent state.
There are no such mercenaries in Ukraine - foreign voluntary units are part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia has repeatedly attracted both absolutely illegal private military companies like the Wagner group and illegal mercenaries from Syria for the war against Ukraine.
See related cases: A significant number of foreign mercenaries fighting on Ukraine's side; Nazi mercenaries from Europe fighting in Ukraine; over 2,500 foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine; over 11,000 foreign mercenaries fought on Ukraine's side since February 2022; 60 French mercenaries lost their lives in Kharkiv; Ukrainian army admits mercenaries from 50 countries fight on Kyiv's side; Foreign soldiers fight in Ukraine guised a mercenaries; The largest number of mercenaries in Ukraine comes from Poland; Russian missile strike on the headquarters of French militants in Ukraine killed more than 60 highly qualified specialists.