20,000 foreigners have joined Ukrainian forces in fight against Russia: Report

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As many as 20,000 foreigners are currently fighting in the Ukrainian armed forces against the ongoing invasion by Russia, according to The Kyiv Independent, one of Ukraine's top English language newspapers. The paper also reported, citing a government minister, that foreign citizens, if they want, can apply for Ukrainian citizenship as well.

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“Foreign volunteers will be able to obtain Ukrainian citizenship if they want to, First Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin said on March 9. Twenty thousand foreign volunteers have joined Ukrainian forces to fight Russia since March 6,” the Kyiv Post said on Twitter.

⚡️Foreign volunteers will be able to obtain Ukrainian citizenship if they want to, First Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin said on March 9.

Twenty thousand foreign volunteers have joined Ukrainian forces to fight Russia since March 6. — The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 9, 2022

On February 27, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the formation of an ‘international brigade’ under which foreign nationals, willing to fight for the eastern European nation, would be able to volunteer for the same by visiting Ukrainian embassies in their respective countries to sign up to fight.

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Since then, there have been reports of citizens of various countries, including Japan and India, volunteering to fight for Ukraine.

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In order to fight against Russia, which began invasion of its neighbour on February 24, Zelenskyy has repeatedly urged the United Nations, as well as organisations such as the NATO and EU to provide his country with arms and ammunition. World governments have responded by provide aid to Ukraine--financial and military--and imposing sanctions against Russian businessmen, as well as members of President Vladimir Putin's regime, including Putin himself.

stratof3ar89 on March 9th, 2022 at 11:25 UTC »

Putin: Hey, I said no armed forces allowed. Volunteers: We're not. We're here in Ukraine on holiday as tourists on a special operation.

PloppyTheSpaceship on March 9th, 2022 at 08:03 UTC »

Time for Russian forces to defect en masse?

DracKing20 on March 9th, 2022 at 05:26 UTC »

This is literally a small army (better armed, more experienced, higher morale), in comparison to Belarus force which is around 30k on drills with Russia, that barely wanted to fight.

Edit: Support for Ukrainian army official bank donation link:

https://bank.gov.ua/en/news/all/natsionalniy-bank-vidkriv-spetsrahunok-dlya-zboru-koshtiv-na-potrebi-armiyi