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<ul class="summary-list"><li>People from around Europe and the US are planning to travel to <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> and fight Russian forces.</li><li>Two British veterans said they plan to join the Georgian National Legion, which has been fighting separatists in the Donbas.</li></ul>Before Joseph Lister left his home in Sussex Thursday, he left letters for his family.As with any <keyword id="11904994" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="war" source="Orion">war</keyword>, there's a good chance you won't come back.While the United Kingdom has backed Ukraine against <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>'s invasion with sanctions and aid, it hasn't sent in troops. So Lister decided to go and defend Ukraine on his own. He couldn't just sit around and expect everyone else to do it, he reasoned."Well, everyone's afraid of dying aren't they?" Lister told Insider. "But, realistically, if I was to die, you can either die doing something like this, which is the right thing to be doing. Or you can die potentially like an old man who can't even wipe their own ass and doesn't even know who they are."Lister is one of the thousands of people who have told authorities in Ukraine that they plan to take up arms against the Russian invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the formation of the Ukrainian foreign legion — officially called the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword> Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine — shortly after Russia's invasion of the country in February."Every friend of Ukraine who wants to join Ukraine in defending the country, please come over," Zelensky announced at a press conference. "We will give you weapons."George, another British national, working in security risk operations and living in Gloucester, told Insider he's also planning to join the fight in Ukraine. A veteran of the UK army with 12 years of experience in armed forces "operating around the globe," he said he knows around 20 people personally who are planning to fight, and started an online group of internationals planning to ward off Russian forces.His whole family has served in militaries, he said, so he thinks they'll understand when they see the letters he left."It's not a very nice conversation to have," said George, who asked Insider to withhold his real name because he hasn't yet told his family about his planned departure to Ukraine this weekend. "So most people are leaving letters for the families so that when you go, you can say 'I've left a letter here,' and then everything will be there for them."Civilians in Ukraine have taken up arms and had some success pushing back against Moscow's forces. International support from experienced fighters, George told Insider, would help turn the tides."They're sending Russians in that are 18, 20 years old with not a lot of experience," he said. "Most of us going out there are harder veterans that know what they're doing, so we can make a real difference out there."<h2>How to fight in another country's war</h2>Joining the <keyword id="11898555" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="military" source="Orion">military</keyword> of another country's army is not exactly easy. The last time a wave of fighters from around the world spilled into a conflict came during the Syrian Civil War. They included radical Islamists, like Jihadi John, believed to be Mohammed Emwazi, a Kurdish-British national famous for beheading American journalists and British aid workers in ISIS propaganda videos, who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35358101">was killed in a US airstrike</a>. And there were those who fought with forces aligned with the west, like Brace Belden, the leftist California native who fought with the Kurdish People's Defense Units and <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/04/brace-belden-pisspiggranddad-syria-isis.html">tweeted about it using the handle @PissPigGrandad</a>, who now <a href="https://www.patreon.com/TrueAnonPod">co-hosts a podcast about Jeffrey Epstein</a>.On February 27, Ukraine's foreign minister <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-international-legion-foreigners-join-fight-2022-2">told foreigners</a> to contact their local Ukrainian diplomatic missions for <a href="https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/ukraine/2022/02/27/want-to-go-fight-for-ukraine-heres-what-to-do/">instructions on how to join</a>. When UK foreign secretary Liz Truss <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60544838">announced</a> that she'd support British nationals fighting in Ukraine, Lister, George, and other fighters took that as permission to take up arms."Since the UK parliament has said that we'll back anyone that goes, that's kind of like the UK government giving anyone a green light to go and help," George told Insider.<div type="image" title="ukraine protest" height="2233" width="2978" msid="89980193" hostid="261"></div>It's not clear if everyone will join Ukraine's new legion. Details about it remain scarce. Instructions given at the Ukrainian embassy in Britain, viewed by Insider, told potential conscripts to fill out a form online, book a flight to Poland, and then receive further instructions there. Ukrainian officials haven't said who will lead the group, what kind of training they will receive, and how many years fighters will be expected to serve.But there is already another battalion fighting Russians in Ukraine that accepts foreign fighters. The Georgian National Legion, founded in 2014 by mostly Georgian nationals, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/russia-invade-ukraine-western-fighters-nato">has a contract with the Ukrainian government</a> and has fought Russia-backed separatist forces in the Donbas region. For years, it has accepted international volunteers, and both George and Lister indicated they were likely to join the group rather than Ukraine's new legion until they get more information.Mamuka Mamulashvili, the founder and leader of the <keyword id="13302844" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="georgian-legion" source="Orion">Georgian Legion</keyword>, told Insider that, before Putin's invasion, the group had around 250 fighters. In the past week, he said, thousands of more people have sent messages to him on WhatsApp and other channels in the past week telling him they planned to join the fight."We have a reputation of a good unit, a good battalion, professional. So they're trying to reach us," he said.<div type="image" title="georgian legion training ukraine" height="1666" width="2223" msid="89980195" hostid="261"></div>He said around 1,000 more people planned to join from Georgia, 150 from the United Kingdom, and 50 from the United States. (This week, the government of Georgia blocked a group of 400 fighters from joining the legion, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vx7k/georgia-blocked-hundreds-of-foreign-fighters-from-joining-the-defence-of-ukraine">according to Vice</a>.) The battalion, Mamulashvili said, could easily absorb new foreigners because it's composed of relatively small groups and already has a process in place for taking newcomers from different backgrounds. He said at the time of his interview with Insider Tuesday that he had not slept in four days, so busy was he drawing up defense plans and responding to people interested in joining.<h2>Dibs on the CamelBak</h2>In the group George formed, on the encrypted messaging app Signal, people have traded tips about how to join the fight. In messages viewed by Insider, they've debated whether to join the Georgian Legion, the new Ukrainian foreign legion, or to simply hang around in cities and work with underground fighters.The group has more than 250 people so far, from everywhere between the Netherlands to Greece, per the users' phone number country codes, with a smattering of people from the United States. Most people who talked about their plans said they would fly or drive to Poland, and then cross the border into Ukraine from there. Body armor seems to be sold out everywhere in Poland, several people said, so the general advice was to bring some from home."Lol, imagine you have a pair of $40,000 Nods, and the TSA just confiscates it," joked one American, referring to night-vision goggles, who groaned that he couldn't fly over immediately because his passport had expired.But would airlines allow body armor on board? What kind of guns would they be given in Ukraine? Could they get dibs on another person's <a href="https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/hydration-system.html">Camelbak</a> hydration pack if they died in combat? Would Verizon cell service still work? ("You can buy sim cards at some gas stations," one American veteran living in Ukraine advised.)People in the Signal group also talked about their family members getting upset. One person, with an Australian country code, said his wife tried to persuade him she was pregnant so he wouldn't leave.<div type="image" title="georgian legion training ukraine" height="1666" width="2223" msid="89980196" hostid="261"></div>For years, Mamulashvili has used his group to train civilians across Ukraine to learn how to handle arms and protect themselves from gunfire. Zelensky, according to Mamulashvili, should have simply designated his group as the international legion instead of creating a new one under a different commander. He believed that would happen eventually."All the foreigners anyways are coming to Georgia Legion and not to some other place," he said. "So whether the government wants it or not they have to say we are the international legion because we are the international legion."Mamulashvili founded the Georgian Legion in 2014, and has been <a href="http://gtarchive.georgiatoday.ge/news/3112/American-Ex-Paratrooper-Joins-Georgian-Legion-Fighting-in-Ukraine">fighting against Moscow's expansion in wars since he was 14</a>, beginning with the separatist war in Georgia's Abkhazia region. He said that witnessing the resolve of Ukrainian civilians has made him prouder to fight alongside them."I see now, the guy is really hard. They could not break him," he said, referring to Zelensky. "I'm very skeptical about politicians generally. And I did not expect that this guy has the iron, or nerves, let's say."The fighters don't all have personal ties to Ukraine, but they see the resistance against Russian forces as a moral imperative. If Putin could invade a sovereign country and get away with it, they say, it's unlikely he'd stop there."If Russia takes over Ukraine, where's their next stop? What is their endpoint? Are they gonna move into Europe? Are they gonna come knocking on our doors next?" George asked. "It has to be stopped."For veterans like himself, he said, he's not too worried about death."I've been to multiple war zones before," George said. "A lot of people think that they're on extra time anyway, from where they've been."Lister told Insider he hopes his family looks at his decision and understands that joining the war was the right thing to do."Maybe one day my son can look at this and know that I actually did something instead of doing nothing," he said. Joshua Zitser contributed reporting.

Meet the British veterans traveling to Ukraine to fight the Russian invaders

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="13330365" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mamuka-mamulashvili" source="Orion">Mamuka Mamulashvili</keyword> leads a legion of <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">international</keyword> fighters in <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword>'s army.</li><li>He says more international weapons, sanctions, and fighters will help defeat <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>'s invasion.</li></ul>The commander of one of Ukraine's international fighting units has a message for the world: Give us more guns.Mamuka Mamulashvili, the founder and leader of the <keyword id="13302844" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="georgian-legion" source="Orion">Georgian Legion</keyword> of the Ukrainian army, told Insider in an interview that the United States should recall how former President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the US must give Europe "the arsenal of democracy."Weapons, along with more support and relentless sanctions for Russia, are the only way Ukraine can avoid the fate that befell Georgia in 2008, when<a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/the-2008-russo-georgian-war-putins-green-light/"> international reaction to Putin's invasion was muted</a>, Mamulashvili said."Ukraine is the only country today physically fighting for freedom and democratic ideals," Mamulashvili told Insider. "Everybody should get more engaged, because it is the only place now where you can see the real fighting for real freedom."Mamulashvili founded the legion in 2014 along with a group of other Georgian nationals to fight Russia-backed separatist forces in Ukraine's Donbas region. It later <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/russia-invade-ukraine-western-fighters-nato">made a contract with the Ukrainian government</a> to become part of the Ukrainian army. Since it welcomes conscripts from other countries, it has been the de-facto international legion of the Ukrainian military.Mamulashvili has personally been <a href="http://gtarchive.georgiatoday.ge/news/3112/American-Ex-Paratrooper-Joins-Georgian-Legion-Fighting-in-Ukraine">fighting against Moscow's expansion in wars since he was 14 years old</a>, beginning with the separatist war in Georgia's Abkhazia region, which began in 1992. He said that witnessing the resolve of Ukrainian civilians has made him prouder to fight alongside them, and that he has been impressed with the leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the crisis."I see now, the guy is really hard. They could not break him," he said. "I'm very skeptical about politicians generally. And I did not expect that this guy has the iron, or nerves, let's say."Mamulashvili said that, for years, he was anticipating Russia's widespread attack on Ukraine. He has used his group to train civilians across Ukraine to learn how to handle arms and protect themselves from gunfire. He said Putin's interest isn't just in geographical expansion, but to suck the country's soul."Russia depends on Ukraine historically because Russia has not got its own history," he said. "It has only the mist of the history, and it is connected to Ukraine. So they want stolen history [more] than they want Ukrainian soil."<h2><keyword id="13302867" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="foreign-fighters" source="Orion">Foreign fighters</keyword> see the Georgian Legion as the true international unit</h2>In February, as Russia's invasion began, Zelensky called for "every friend of Ukraine" to join the fight. He said his administration would form a new foreign legion, officially called the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine.But details about the new legion remain scarce. Ukrainian officials haven't said who will lead the group, what kind of training they will receive, and how many years fighters will be expected to serve. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-veterans-traveling-to-ukraine-to-fight-russian-invaders-2022-3">Several foreign fighters interviewed by Insider</a> said they plan to join Mamulashvili's legion instead. Zelensky, Mamulashvili said, should have simply designated his group as the international legion instead of creating a new one under a different commander. He believed that would happen eventually."All the foreigners anyways are coming to Georgia Legion and not to some other place," he said. "So whether the government wants it or not they have to say we are the international legion because we are the international legion."The Georgian Legion had 250 fighters before Russia's invasion, Mamulashvili told Insider. In the weeks since, he said, thousands of more people have sent messages to him on WhatsApp and other channels in the past week telling him they planned to join the fight.<div type="image" title="georgian legion training ukraine" height="1666" width="2223" msid="90063642" hostid="261"></div>He said around 1,000 more people planned to join from Georgia, 150 from the United Kingdom, and 50 from the United States. (Last week, the government of Georgia blocked a group of 400 fighters from joining the legion,<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3vx7k/georgia-blocked-hundreds-of-foreign-fighters-from-joining-the-defence-of-ukraine"> according to Vice</a>.) The battalion, Mamulashvili said, could easily absorb new foreigners because it's composed of relatively small groups and already has a process in place for taking newcomers from different backgrounds."We have a reputation of a good unit, a good battalion, professional. So they're trying to reach us," he said.Mamulashvili said he speaks with every person joining his unit personally and makes sure they're fighting for the right reasons. He won't accept extremists or "bloodthirsty guys that are coming and saying, 'let's kill somebody,'" he said. Mamulashvili also drew a distinction between his group and <a href="https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/03/02/what-is-ukraines-azov-battalion/">the Azov Battalion</a>, another segment of the Ukrainian army, which has welcomed neo-Nazis and other white supremacists and has also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-reverses-ban-praise-ukraine-far-right-forces-2022-2">cultivated international ties</a>."I have to exclude the radical views. I have to exclude some religious fanatics or extremism or Nazis or racism or whatever," he said.The collective response from Ukrainians and the rest of the world to Russia's invasion has made Mamulashvili think there will be "no problem" defeating Putin's forces, he said. Putin, he said, has no moral standing in the war."It must be unacceptable for any civilized men to tolerate what Russia does in Ukraine," Mamulashvili said. "They're killing children, they're killing women, they're killing everybody, they're killing good people in the street. Putin is a pure war criminal and his place is in Hague."

A Georgian commander fighting Russian forces in Ukraine says more international support will help defeat Putin

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Bryan Young, a US Army veteran who volunteered in Ukraine's foreign legion, died in July. </li><li>His partner told Insider that she believes Young's death in Ukraine was preventable.</li></ul>When Maria Lipka called her partner Bryan Young, she was shocked to find that he was already on his way to Ukraine. A week earlier, the pair, who lived in Tbilisi, Georgia, got into a heated argument after Young said that he wanted to go to Ukraine to defend the country <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-russia-is-attacking-ukraine-putin-justification-for-invasion-2022-2">from a full-scale Russian invasion.</a>The 51-year-old Army veteran from California said he needed to go because it was his duty to protect the free world, Lipka told Insider in a series of interviews."I told him that I absolutely don't understand why he should do it," she said. "We didn't speak for a week.""I didn't even have an opportunity just to say goodbye," she added.Four months later, he would be dead.Young traveled to Kyiv, via the Turkish city of Istanbul, in March — roughly a month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine started on February 24. The 51-year-old served as a US infantryman between November 1990 and April 2003, before being forced to retire due to injury.After a lonely two years in lockdown, the news of a war in Ukraine — only a few thousand miles away — gave Young a new sense of purpose.However, joining the fight against Russia would plunge the former infantryman into a scary new reality.<div type="image" title="Volodymyr Zelenskyy" height="695" width="927" msid="95964764" hostid="261"></div><h2>International defense legion of Ukraine </h2>When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the formation of the international legion on February 27, thousands<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-the-uk-volunteers-joining-zelenskys-international-legion-2022-3"> lined up to volunteer outside Ukrainian embassies</a> worldwide.Some came with extensive combat experience, having previously fought in countries like Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan, while others came with nothing more than a burning desire to defend a country in need.In total, almost 20,000 legionnaires from 52 nations answered the call to arms in the first weeks of the war, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba<a href="https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/rus/news/2022/03/6/7135360/"> said at the time</a>. Around 3,000 of them were US citizens, a top defense official at the Washington DC embassy<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-3000-americans-have-volunteered-to-fight-russian-invaders-2022-3"> said in March.</a>A spokesperson for one branch of the legion, which Young was not part of, told Insider that since the start of the war they have had a "steady influx of people" coming in, but that it has fluctuated depending on the time of year.<h2>"I knew someone was going to die"</h2>After his arrival in Ukraine, Lipka said she received concerning messages from Young, who complained about the lack of organization and equipment in the legion, adding that much was done "like in the old days."Young was a part of the 517th battalion of the<a href="https://www.bohunbrigade.com/en/aboutus"> Ivan Bohun Brigade</a>, which was overseen by the GUR Legion, run by Ukrainian Intelligence."The GUR part of the legion is led by Ukrainian officers and usually includes veterans or people who have experience on the battlefield," Kacper Rekawek, a research fellow for the Center for Research on Extremism at the University of Oslo, told Insider.Rekawek added that soldiers in this section are often highly skilled and deployed in smaller groups that operate right on the front.Still, the legion appeared anything but professional.<div type="image" title="A Foreign Legion fighter looks on at wreckage in Ukraine following a Russian attack." height="1536" width="2048" msid="95964766" hostid="261"></div>In June, Young texted Lipka: "It has been a mess where I am, most of the foreign volunteers left. There are only a few of us left."In the early hours of July 18, Young and his unit were deployed to Hryhorivka, a village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region that had been under heavy<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/after-losing-luhansk-ukraine-forces-regather-defence-donetsk-2022-07-05/"> Russian attacks.</a>They were tasked with clearing out a ravine that Russian soldiers were using to cross a small river, in an effort to slow their advance, according to a situation report<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/23/americans-killed-russian-tank-attack-00047567"> published by Politico</a>. Another American soldier, who was with them at the time and goes by the alias AJ, told Insider that their mission was a disaster from the start, adding that the group had narrowly escaped death multiple times in the days before. "When we were told to go out again, in my mind I knew someone was going to die," AJ told Insider. The GUR did not respond to Insider's request for comment.<div type="image" title="foreign soldiers" height="999" width="1333" msid="95964768" hostid="261"></div>As the men went to find cover in an underground cellar, Russian troops targeted them with artillery fire, AJ said.The first blast injured Luke "Skywalker" Lusyszyn, another US citizen and medic who had accompanied the battalion that day. During a brief pause in the firing, Young, and two other soldiers — Emile-Antoine Roy Sirous from Canada and Edvard Selander Patrignani from Sweden — rushed to his side to evacuate him before they too were killed.Young took a piece of shrapnel to the head, the upper left chest, the legs, and the stomach, a soldier who was with him when he died, told Lipka in messages seen by Insider.The 51-year-old's machine gun, which he had named after Lipka, was by his side."I know he didn't feel any pain," the soldier wrote to Lipka. "I watched him when it happened and I could do nothing, but I know it was painless.""It is impossible [to stay safe]. Our commander will get us killed here," the soldier added.<h2>A preventable death</h2>Lipka told Insider she believes Young's death was preventable. Messages sent to her from soldiers in Young's unit — seen by Insider — reveal that many thought their commander, Ruslan Miroshnichenko, was reckless, and often drunk. "No one trusts Ruslan, he is a lying piece of shit," one soldier told Lipka in a text message seen by Insider. "Ruslan has pissed off everyone in the company, especially the Ukrainians. He is a dead man."They also claimed that Miroshnichenko was a heavy drinker who often encouraged others to drink before going out on missions. At one point, Young's battalion destroyed a local bar, and police had to get involved, Lipka says. When Miroshnichenko called Lipka to discuss funeral arrangements on the phone, the commander sounded drunk, she said.Lipka also said she never found out about Young's death from official channels. Instead, she was informed by Young's daughter, who had seen the news on Facebook.Miroshnichenko has since been fired from his post as the battalion's commander, Lipka said.Insider was unable to confirm his whereabouts, but his LinkedIn profile shows he's still working for the legion, in a different department. <h2>Poor organization and reckless commanders </h2>Lipka isn't the only person who has raised questions over the way some foreign fighters were treated in Ukraine, and the dangers they were put in, even while knowing the risks.Foreign volunteers leaving Ukraine due to poor organization, lack of equipment, and reckless commanders have already made headlines.In April,<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/they-went-to-ukraine-to-be-war-heroes-and-fight-russians-2022-4"> Insider talked to two Germans who had gone to Ukraine to volunteer to fight</a> and ended up with a different outfit: the Georgian Legion made up of volunteers mostly from the ex-Soviet country.They described arriving at barracks that were barren and disorganized and an overall sense of chaos."Katastrophe," Tobias, one of the men, told Insider. "There's no organization, no organized training. Everyone just wants to kill the Russians." Neither had any military experience, unlike people like Young.<h2>"My helmet saved my life"</h2>Meanwhile, an investigation published by<a href="https://kyivindependent.com/investigations/suicide-missions-abuse-physical-threats-international-legion-fighters-speak-out-against-leaderships-misconduct"> The Kyiv Independent</a> in August found that some commanders in the GUR were sending men on "suicide missions", sexually harassing female medics, and threatening soldiers with a gun.One commander, a Polish ex-criminal named Sasha Kuchynsky, was also a heavy drinker, and sometimes forced soldiers in his troops to help him loot shops, The Kyiv Independent reported. "A bunch of wannabes, playing with people's lives," one soldier, who has since left Ukraine, said of the legion's leadership.<div type="image" title="bryan young ukraine" height="852" width="1139" msid="95964770" hostid="261"></div>In a <a href="https://kyivindependent.com/investigations/investigation-international-legion-misappropriation">follow-up article</a>, foreign fighters accused some of their commanders of stealing small arms and light weapons that they said went missing from the Legion's armory rooms, with some saying they witnessed arms being loaded into what they described as civilian SUVs.Another foreign fighter, who goes by the military alias Mavericks, told Insider he joined the GUR unit in September but decided to leave a month later because of how badly it was run. (Mavericks' identity is known to Insider)."My last mission, I lost a colleague," he said. "The intelligence services told us we needed to be somewhere, so we went and … on our way, we were ambushed."Russian troops launched a missile 10 meters away from the unit, killing one Ukrainian soldier and injuring others."For two days I couldn't hear anything," Mavericks told Insider. "My helmet saved my life."Mavericks is back home in Spain and does not plan to return to Ukraine.<h2>Commanders are not always the "creme-de-la creme"</h2>Young wasn't the last American to die fighting in Ukraine. On November 8, Trent Davis, a 21-year-old US Army veteran from Kansas, was killed on his first mission with the legion, near the southern city of Kherson,<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/us-army-veteran-killed-fighting-195900944.html"> according to The Military Times</a>. Davis was at least the tenth American to die fighting in the conflict, the outlet reported.The University of Oslo's Rekawek told Insider that while Ukraine has been "extremely accommodating" to foreign soldiers who came to fight, they had some "teething problems" in the first months of the war. "The legion first started largely as a PR exercise three days after the war, when Ukraine was in need. So it's only natural that they had some issues at the beginning," he said. Rekawek said that while many of the international volunteers were highly skilled, they are not always the priority. Also, not all of the commanders appointed by the military were the "creme-de-la-creme" of the crop, Rekawek said, adding that in a case like Young's, it seems like "a lot of it also came down to bad luck."For Young's partner, this is little consolation."How everything was handled, especially after his death, was scandalous," Lipka told Insider.Those who survived also bear the scars. Mavericks told Insider he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and still mourns the deaths of his comrades."I decided to leave because seeing your colleagues die makes you think," he told Insider.Despite reports of disarray and confusion, the international legion has grown in strength and importance over the months of the conflict, and has proven to be "tactically and operationally" very handy to the Ukrainian Army, said Rekawek."To some extent, this [also] means that the legion is maturing, and is being accepted," he added.Additional reporting by Sam Tabahriti

The death of an American soldier fighting in Ukraine exposes chaos and dysfunction in the foreign legion

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ukraine's International Legion was born in 2022, a home for foreigners eager to fight Russia.</li><li>Ukraine said 20,000 signed up, though experts said 4,000 was a more realistic peak figure.</li></ul>Three days after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/zvernennya-do-gromadyan-inozemnih-derzhav-yaki-pragnut-dopom-73213">issued a clarion call</a> for "friends of peace and democracy" to join the fight from abroad.Zelensky's International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine (ILDU) was born, echoing the <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Brigades#Formation_and_recruitment">International Brigades</a> that fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.Many answered. Outside Ukraine's embassy in London <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-the-uk-volunteers-joining-zelenskys-international-legion-2022-3">Business Insider found men</a> lining up to serve."If they need to shove a rifle in my hands and put me on the front, then that's what they need to do," said one, a nightclub worker."It's better than sitting with my thumb up my ass."The Legion emerged from these recruits — some with military experience, some without.It has been deployed across the front lines in some of the war's toughest battles, where any of its members died.Carl Larson, a US veteran who served in Iraq, spent three months fighting around Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv in the summer of 2022. He told BI his comrades' motivations were mixed."Many of us were there for the right reasons, to defend democracy," he said."Lots of others," though, "were there for the wrong reasons: adrenaline junkies, people looking for a surrogate family, or because they had personal problems back home."Studies from in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/rusi-journal/international-legion-ukraine-exploring-background-and-motivations-foreign-volunteers">July</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/why-foreign-volunteers-enlist-ukrainian-international-legion">September</a> last year by the London-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) reached a similar conclusion.Some parleyed their postings into <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-social-media-war-hero-accused-stolen-valor-in-ukraine-2023-7">fame on social media</a>, issuing impassioned dispatches from the war zone.BI's coverage of the International Legion since its inception found that recruits were a mixed bag of qualified veterans,<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-foreign-legion-veterans-glory-seekers-and-social-media-stars-2022-4"> glory-seekers </a>and people trying to give their often chaotic live meaning but totally unsuitable for a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/they-went-to-ukraine-to-be-war-heroes-and-fight-russians-2022-4">military role in a war zone.</a>In one case, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a-us-veteran-went-to-ukraine-and-made-a-shock-defection-to-russia-2023-3">a Legion volunteer from Alabama</a> even defected to Russia.Some volunteers barely lasted a week. A Russian missile strike in March 2022 hit a base near Lviv being used for foreign fighters.<a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/people_of_action/1441">According to Ukrainian officials</a>, dozens of Ukrainians were killed and more than 100 foreign volunteers injured, ending their campaigns before they began.Marco Bocchese, assistant professor of international relations at Webster Vienna Private University and an author of the September RUSI study, called the attack a "watershed moment" for many foreign volunteers.<div type="image" title="Soldiers walk amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha." height="5760" width="8640" msid="110034912" hostid="261" sizebytes="3949322"></div>Ukraine originally said 20,000 foreign volunteers had signed up to fight. Bocchese told BI that this figure was "pure propaganda."In January last year, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/18/foreign-fighters-war-ukraine-volunteers/">The Washington Post estimated</a> that the figure was likely closer to 3,000.Four experts contacted for this report estimated the May 2024 strength of the legion at between 1,000 and 2,000.Some foreigners have found other homes in the Ukrainian military: in the intelligence services, or in separate Ukrainian units, such as the elite <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/helmet-cam-us-fighters-in-ukraines-chosen-company-rush-russian-trench-2023-9">Chosen Company</a> — a reconnaissance and assault unit composed of US and Australian volunteers within the 59th Motorized Brigade.This video from 2023 shows the Chosen Company at work:Matteo Pugliese, a researcher at the University of Barcelona who authored the July study, told BI that Ukrainian intelligence coordinates its own branch of foreign volunteers."This includes three Russian groups, Belarusian units, the Georgian Legion, and Western veterans with better combat skills," he said.All told, this might add another 1,000 or 2,000 soldiers, for a total of 3,000-4,000 foreigners fighting in Ukraine.They are at best a small fraction of <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-war-hang-on-in-2024-to-win-in-2025-putin-zelenskky-russia-counteroffensive/">Ukraine's 800,000-strong military.</a><h2 id="ca692652-31c6-4bfb-ab87-d1395dc6e1fa">Killed in action</h2>International fighters proved "more expendable than Ukrainian soldiers for high-risk operations," Pugliese said.Indeed, Larson, who headed a 25-man platoon of legionaries in 2022, said he and his men were a "sacrificial unit.""We were a speed bump," he said. "If the Russians had come, we could have held them up for maybe an hour."Larson said that many foreign volunteers, especially those who had fought in places like the deserts of Iraq, struggled to adapt to both the terrain in Ukraine as well as the weapons used there."We lost many guys to drones," he said.The Legion's press service declined to comment on its strength, citing security reasons.A spokesman, Oleksandr Shahuri, said that more than 100 nationalities had joined up.A <a target="_blank" href="https://taskandpurpose.com/news/americans-killed-ukraine-russian-invasion/">report by Task and Purpose</a> in February of this year concluded that at least 50 of those who died were US citizens, a figure that is likely an undercount.Of those 50, most had served in the US military, including 20+ Army veterans and 12 ex-Marines.There was a Green Beret and a Navy SEAL. Some had conventional military careers, others left after getting into trouble.A US State Department spokesperson said there is no official tally."Our ability to verify reports of deaths of US citizens in Ukraine is extremely limited," they said. "In addition, not all US citizen deaths may be reported to US authorities. For these reasons, we are unable to provide a definitive number of all US citizens who have been killed."<h2 id="f3a24dfe-470c-4ee4-895c-77be8cb6e0c5">The Legion's future</h2>Earlier this year, Zelenskyy <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-allow-foreigners-serve-national-guard-ukraine-war/">issued a decree</a> allowing foreign nationals legally in the country to enter its National Guard. He also <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.voanews.com/a/decree-could-give-ukrainian-citizenship-to-foreign-fighters-nation-s-diaspora-/7450717.html">proposed legislation </a>making it easier for foreigners defending Ukraine to receive citizenship.That could prove "very enticing" for some foreign volunteers, Bocchese said. "Many want to make Ukraine their future home."In some states, fighting for Ukraine means giving up your freedom back home. Austria, Montenegro, Kosovo, and India made it illegal to join up."Some will be facing criminal sanctions upon returning home for the fact that they enlisted in a foreign unit," Bocchese said.For that reason, many hope to gain citizenship and "put roots down," said Larson, the US veteran.Ukraine's efforts to draft its own men mean the Legion is "no longer decisive or relevant in strategic terms," Pugliese said.An April 2024 increases payments for Ukrainian volunteers, adds new punishments for draft dodging, and seeks to compel Ukrainian men living abroad to come home.According to Larson, who continues to help recruiters for the Legion, sign-ups have dwindled by two thirds since the flood of March 2022."Half the signups are from Latin America now," he noted, a big shift.<div type="image" title="Colombian veterans who joined the Ukrainian armed forces to help fight Russia." height="1333" width="2000" msid="110034914" hostid="261" sizebytes="246866"></div>In the fall of 2023, the Legion began admitting Spanish-speaking applicants, many of whom were inadmissible before, Pugliese told BI.Some had made it in but were mistreated by their officers, he said.The new Bolivar Battalion, for example, was <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://i-ua.tv/programs/1222/83166-el-batallon-bolivar-en-ucrania-y-la-cultura-de-la-libertad-batalion-bolivar-i-kultura-svobody">formed</a> by fighters from Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, and Colombia and was is led by a Venezuelan anti-government fighter.Many are former professional soldiers from Colombia, battle-hardened fighting drug cartels and rebel groups in their homeland.Experienced non-commissioned officers can earn four times as much as back home, or even more, <a target="_blank" class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-colombian-foreign-fighters-professional-soldiers-07b5cb7949bd10234e7456f9c1c20b08">the Associated Press</a> reported.Latin Americans "have different motivations from typical Western soldiers," Larson told BI."They're there for the money."

Ukraine was a magnet for foreign fighters. After 2 bruising years, many are disillusioned or dead.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword> is accepting <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">international</keyword> fighters to help combat the Russian invasion.</li><li>Stefan Bertram Lee, a UK resident who volunteered to fight against ISIS in Syria, says international fighters need to be committed to the cause.</li></ul>A UK citizen who volunteered to fight in Syria's civil war has some advice for all the foreign fighters going to Ukraine: You can't half-ass it."If you're not 100% behind it, don't do it. You need this absolutely pathological drive within you and stubbornness to kind of get you there, to get you through it, and so on," <keyword id="13392119" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="stefan-bertram-lee" source="Orion">Stefan Bertram-Lee</keyword> told Insider. "If you're at all unsure the tiniest bit, don't do it, because you'll probably just give up somewhere along the way."In February, after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for international reinforcements. Since then, thousands of people across Europe <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/british-veterans-traveling-to-ukraine-to-fight-russian-invaders-2022-3">have headed to Ukraine</a>, or pledged to go there, to fight off the invasion and offer humanitarian aid. Some battalions in Ukraine's military <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/georgian-legion-commander-ukraine-army-russia-war-mamuka-mamulashvili-2022-3">have already accepted foreign fighters</a>, and Zelenskyy announced the formation of an international legion as well. The Ukrainian government said that around 20,000 people have volunteered so far.Bertram-Lee, who identifies as nonbinary, also volunteered to be a foreign fighter — in Syria's civil war. In 2017, they snuck into Rojava to fight alongside the YPG, a Kurdish socialist militia, in order to fight ISIS.Bertram-Lee didn't end up participating in any firefights. <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2019/08/the-online-left-goes-to-war">As Jacobin reported</a>, he went through months of YPG's basic training but ended up on a base making dank memes promoting the group's ideology. YPG and its associated political party PKK are committed to the political teachings of Abdullah Öcalan, a Kurdish political prisoner who has advocated for political systems that integrate socialism, democracy, and feminism. The story of Bertram-Lee's time in Rojava is being turned into a movie, <a href="https://deadline.com/2021/03/stefan-vs-isis-movie-stefan-bertram-lee-kurdish-freedom-fighters-1234708200/">Deadline reported</a> this month.There are other major differences between Bertram-Lee's experience and what volunteers are expecting in Ukraine. While the UK's foreign ministry gave the green light for fighters to go to Ukraine, Bertram-Lee was questioned multiple times by the police when they returned home. And as they pointed out, there are simply far more people going to Ukraine than to Syria."The number of foreign fighters who joined YPG that weren't from Turkey was max 500 over about five years," they said. "So the numbers are just completely incomparable."<div type="image" title="Stefan Bertram-Lee Rojava gun" height="1767" width="2357" msid="90240846" hostid="261"></div>But there are still similarities. British volunteers who went to fight in Ukraine told Insider they wanted to defend a democratic Europe and couldn't stand that Putin would invade a sovereign country. Bertram-Lee said they personally wouldn't fight for Ukraine, in part, because <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-34594262">communist groups are outlawed in the country</a> and they were suspicious of the <a href="https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/03/02/what-is-ukraines-azov-battalion/">fascist Azov Battalion fighters</a> in the country's military. And like the volunteers for Ukraine, Bertram-Lee went to Rojava to defend and build a free society that was under threat."For me it was, it was about social internationalism," they said. "For YPG, it was an effort to show that this wasn't some kind of narrow Kurdish national struggle, but this was a general struggle against a fascist organization by a socialist party in a long tradition of these sorts of things."Mamuka Mamulashvili, the commander of the Georgian International Legion of Ukraine's army, which has accepted international fighters for years, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/georgian-legion-commander-ukraine-army-russia-war-mamuka-mamulashvili-2022-3">previously told Insider</a> that he's cultivated a group of freedom fighters, excluding "religious fanatics" and "Nazis" who want to fight. It's a commitment to ideology, he said, that produces more committed fighters."We don't have some extremists or bloodthirsty guys that are coming [and saying] 'Let's kill somebody,'" Mamulashvili said. "We in Georgian Legion have professionals. They are well-educated men, they are ideologists, they know that they're fighting for freedom, which is the main idea of the Georgian Legion."YPG, too, has focused on recruiting ideologically motivated people, Bertram-Lee told Insider. They said it's important for volunteers to "not be in any way ambivalent" about joining the fight."In Rojava, I saw myself as a small part of a very big thing," Bertram-Lee said. "And definitely that's the attitude you should take with you if you decide to go to Ukraine."

Going to fight in another country's war requires an 'absolutely pathological drive' to succeed, says a former international volunteer

2 German volunteers went to Ukraine to fight the Russians. Confusion, chaos, and then COVID-19, defeated them instead.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Video appears to show Ukrainian soldiers killing captured Russian troops, according to The New York Times.</li><li>The video was taken about seven miles southwest of Bucha, where hundreds of civilians were killed during <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword>'s occupation of the city.</li></ul>Video posted on Telegram Monday appears to show Ukrainian soldiers killing captured Russian troops in a village near Kyiv, according to a report from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/06/world/ukraine-russia-war-news#russia-pows-ukraine-executed">The New York Times.</a>The video was verified by The Times, however, the outlet decided not to publish it due to its graphic nature. Per The Times it shows a Ukrainian soldier shooting a Russian soldier three times while another man says "he's still alive. Film these marauders. Look, he's still alive. He's gasping." The video, The Times reported, also shows at least three other Russian soldiers dead near the victim — identified by white armbands commonly worn by Russian troops. One of the soldiers has an obvious head wound and his hands are tied behind his back, according to the report from The Times.The soldiers are surrounded by equipment and are laying on the road near a BMD-2 — an infantry vehicle used by Russia's airborne units, <a href="https://twitter.com/evanhill/status/1511762178654674945?s=20&amp;t=TUnXBKpy6IhXbW93eMjSCw">according to military scholar Rob Lee</a>.In the video, which was not independently verified by Insider, Ukrainian soldiers are identifiable by their blue armbands and repeat "glory to <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword>" but their unit is unclear. <a href="https://t.me/uniannet/42715">A Ukrainian news agency</a> said the ambush was the work of the "Georgian Legion" a group of Georgian volunteers that formed in 2014 to fight for Ukraine, according to The Times report. The video was filmed north of the village of Dmytrivka, about seven miles southwest of Bucha, according to the Times report. Earlier this week, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nyt-russian-soldiers-open-fire-cyclist-in-bucha-in-video-2022-4">graphic</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/videos-show-dead-bodies-and-mass-grave-in-bucha-ukraine-2022-4">videos emerged </a>of at least 300 civilians killed in Bucha during Russia's<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-intelligence-satellite-photos-bodies-bucha-ukraine-streets-russia-2022-4"> occupation of the city</a>. Ukrainian officials say they were attacked as Russian troops were retreating. Ukrainian forces ambushed Russian troops around March 30, according to the Times report. <a href="https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1510232791769923590?s=20&amp;t=TUnXBKpy6IhXbW93eMjSCw">In a tweet,</a> Ukraine's Defense Ministry said it was "precise work" by Ukrainian troops. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Video appears to show Ukrainian soldiers executing Russian soldier captured in an ambush outside Kyiv, New York Times reports

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A US supporter of Ukraine proposed to his girlfriend with a message on a Ukrainian artillery shell.</li><li>They used a Ukrainian service that offers customized notes on munitions in exchange for a donation.</li></ul>A US couple who met through supporting Ukraine's defense have decided to tie the knot — with the man proposing via a 155mm Ukrainian artillery shell that said "marry me.""When we first started dating, I made an offhand comment one night," 38-year-old Emily Knight told Insider. "I just said, if you buy me a rocket, I'll have to marry you."A few months later that's more or less what her partner David did, using a then-burgeoning Ukrainian service known as SignMyRocket that the couple had been browsing. The project offers supporters of Ukraine the chance to add any message they like to munitions used by Ukrainian soldiers — which are then fired towards Russian forces — in exchange for a cash donation.Donors get a picture, or even a video, of their customized rocket in the field. The cash goes towards supporting the troops, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-soldiers-custom-notes-artillery-shells-40-dollars-fire-russia-2022-6">as Insider previously reported</a>.So on a bright day in November, a 155mm shell inscribed with the following words soared towards a Russian position: "Roses are red, violets are blue, Putin sucks, and I love you. Marry me, Emily?"In a video that was sent back to the couple, a soldier can be heard yelling encouragingly: "Marry him, Emily," as the shell is loaded and fired. The method of proposal may be unusual for most, but according to SignMyRocket's founder Anton Sokolenko, it's the third such request he's had. The 21-year-old Cherkasy-based student told Insider that two other couples have proposed the same way — and that another donor had requested a rocket celebrating their divorce. Over the last months, people have used the service to celebrate everything from Father's Day to fortieth birthdays, and it has raised more than $785,000, according to Sokolenko.<div type="image" title="A composite image showing various shells, inscribed with messages, in use by Ukrainian soldiers." height="1000" width="2000" msid="96323227" hostid="261" sizebytes="130408"></div>For Emily and David, the gesture is intrinsic to their romance. The couple met online through a shared compulsion to follow news of Russia's invasion, passionately supporting the defense of Ukraine."I remember not sleeping, just thinking about what was taking place, what Russia was doing," Emily said. Having grown up in New Orleans and witnessing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Emily was strongly moved by the thought of ordinary people losing their homes.According to David, 51: "Ukrainians defending themselves is clearly the most moral high ground any country has had in any kind of conflict in my lifetime."(David asked for his surname to be withheld, saying he had received threats in relation to his speaking up for Ukraine. His surname is known to Insider.)The couple closely followed events online for weeks, particularly through Twitter Spaces, and soon found themselves talking privately. "She slid into my DMs," joked David, earning a rebuke from Emily for the "creepy" term."We just fell in love," Emily said.<h2>Fellas in love</h2>Online, they call themselves "Fellas" — a gender-neutral moniker for followers of the sprawling movement of Ukraine supporters known jokingly as the North Atlantic Fellas Organization, or NAFO. NAFO emerged as a social media phenomenon in May, and is devoted to fundraising for Ukraine, as well as relentlessly countering pro-Russian disinformation online.Powered by memes and jokes, they're most easily identified by Shiba Inu avatars, usually showing the dogs in army fatigues or a track suit.Despite its humorous tone — Emily called it "gloriously absurd" — NAFO has been <a href="https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/08/31/a-virtual-army-of-impish-cartoon-pooches-is-waging-war-on-russia">hailed in the media as a remarkably successful information tactic</a>. "It's a brilliant evolution of cyber warfare, on the level that you're fighting disinformation organically," said David. "You're not paying anyone to do it. You're just using good-willed people to go out there and say: 'No, that's a lie. Stop lying.'"Through friends made in the network, the couple managed to send a small consumer-grade drone to the front line, and say they have organized two Twitter Spaces with US Rep. Adam Kinzinger to discuss the war. (Kinzinger himself has added "fella" to his Twitter handle.)Kinzinger did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.Even with a wedding on the horizon — the couple haven't set a date yet — they say helping Ukraine is their only priority. When the rocket-fueled engagement post hit their social feeds, online friends started contacting them, saying: "'Where do I send you money for your wedding?'" said Emily. "I'm like, 'no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.'"They're planning to forego a fancy wedding and to simply head to the registry office, telling everyone who would have bought them gifts to donate to the Georgian Legion, a pro-Ukrainian volunteer unit, instead, they told Insider."People actually sent me a bunch of receipts from donating money," Emily said. Her mother, who was ready to foot the bill for a white wedding, has been told to send the equivalent cash to Ukraine, Emily said."We're not in our twenties," Emily said. "We don't need a white frills wedding, you know?""Everything goes to NAFO," said David.

Couples are proposing to each other by writing 'marry me' on Ukrainian artillery shells to be fired at Russians

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ukrainian vigilante groups may try to seek justice for Russian <keyword id="12354157" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="war-crimes" source="Orion">war crimes</keyword>, an expert told Insider.</li><li>Such groups were formed from volunteer brigades during <keyword id="11985141" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ukraine" source="Orion">Ukraine</keyword>'s 2013-2014 Maidan revolution.</li></ul>Ukrainian vigilante groups could try to seek revenge or accountability for Russian atrocities and war crimes being committed during the ongoing war, a Harvard anthropologist told Insider. Emily Channell-Justice, the director of Harvard University's Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program, said Ukraine has seen vigilante groups operate in the past. Though there aren't any indications that vigilantes are currently operating, Channell-Justice said, Ukraine's reliance on territorial defense brigades and volunteer fighters suggests some may again choose to take a form of justice into their own hands. During Ukraine's 2013-2014 Maidan Revolution — mass demonstrations sparked by Ukraine's leadership backing out of a European Union trade deal and developing closer ties with Moscow — volunteer brigades took shape to fight against the government and targeted pro-Russian Ukrainians, Channell-Justice said.These volunteer brigades were "self-proclaimed police forces" and acted like "neighborhood watch groups," she told Insider. After months of bloody civil unrest overhauled the Ukrainian government and forced former president Viktor Yanukovych from power, the Ukrainian military then absorbed the volunteer brigades, Channell-Justice said.These brigades were not only active in Kyiv, but also in other cities and regions of Ukraine, she added."Because Ukraine is so reliant right now on territorial defense units and volunteers, I wouldn't be surprised if we started to see some kind of vigilante [groups] ... holding people accountable," she said. Since <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword> invaded Ukraine in late February, Western leaders have slammed President Vladimir Putin's forces for their brutality and indiscriminate killing of civilians.In the Kyiv suburb of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-intelligence-satellite-photos-bodies-bucha-ukraine-streets-russia-2022-4">Bucha</a>, hundreds of civilians were found dead after Ukraine liberated the city from Russian forces last week. In the besieged southern port city of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-russia-troops-crematoriums-burn-bodies-war-crimes-mariupol-2022-4">Mariupol</a>, the city council claimed Russia is using mobile crematoriums to hide evidence of "crimes." A handful of states — like the US — already accused Russian forces of committing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-accuses-russia-war-crimes-attacks-on-civilians-ukraine-2022-3">war crimes</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/state-department-slams-russia-bucha-ukraine-attacks-2022-4">atrocities</a>, while organizations like the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/un-calls-for-investigation-into-civilian-killings-bucha-ukraine-2022-4">United Nations and EU</a> have opened investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity. Despite the international condemnation, it is unclear if Russia — which does not recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court — will ultimately face criminal consequences. <div type="image" title="A Ukrainian serviceman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 6, 2022." height="1333" width="1778" msid="90732344" hostid="261"></div>Channell-Justice says she hasn't seen any "rallying cries" calling for extra-judicial justice yet.She added: "None of the territorial defense that I've seen, none of the Telegram channels that I've been paying attention to — none of them are saying anything like that."However, a recent video verified by the New York Times <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-appears-to-show-ukrainian-soldiers-executing-captured-russian-soldier-nyt-2022-4">appears to show Ukrainian soldiers executing Russian captives</a> outside Kyiv last month. A Ukrainian <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> agency claimed the ambush that led to the alleged slaughter was the work of the "Georgian Legion," a group of volunteers that formed in 2014 to fight for Ukraine after Russia invaded Crimea, The Times reported. Meanwhile, Ukrainians are watching to see how the international community responds to Russia's ongoing assault, Channell-Justice said, like Thursday's UN <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-suspended-from-un-human-rights-council-over-ukraine-invasion-2022-4">General Assembly vote</a> to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council."Moves like that might prevent such vigilante justice from having to seem necessary," she said. "But if Ukraine feels abandoned, I would not be surprised if that is the step that they do take."

Ukrainian vigilantes may try to seek retribution for Russian war crimes, expert warns

Moscow's 'special' forces: An inside look at how Russia's famed Spetsnaz really operate

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Democrat <keyword id="4410681" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="jon-ossoff">Jon Ossoff</keyword>, who is less than a month away from his runoff election against incumbent Republican Sen. <keyword id="2438662" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="David-Perdue">David Perdue</keyword>, is now using <keyword id="6762469" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="TikTok">TikTok</keyword> to reach young voters.</li><li>Over the past week, Ossoff gained more than 110,000 followers, posting videos that encouraged people in Georgia to register to vote by Monday's deadline to vote in the runoff.</li><li>Despite its quickly growing popularity, only a few political candidates in 2020 took the plunge to TikTok this year and saw varying results.</li><li>US leaders, namely President Donald Trump, have expressed concerns over the app's ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance, and Trump launched a so-far failed attempt to ban it in the country.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/georgia-senate-runoff-young-voters-movement-flip-the-senate-2020-11">Georgia teens want to flip the Senate</a> in runoffs set to take place in less than one month. So, it comes as little surprise that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jon-ossoff-bio-democrat-georgia-special-election-2017-6">Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff</a>, who is embattled in the heated Senate runoff race against Republican Sen. David Perdue, has turned to TikTok <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/1/21754927/jon-ossoff-tiktok-snapchat-account-influencer-marketing">as of early December</a>.In less than a week after he began posting videos as part of his campaign's effort to woo young voters, Ossoff has gained thousands of TikTok followers. The 33-year-old candidate, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jon">posting as @jon</a>, has amassed more than 110,700 followers as of Tuesday afternoon, the byproduct of just 10 videos that, in total, have brought in 1.4 million likes.His most-viewed TikTok video was posted Friday and has earned over 1.5 million views and more than 379,000 likes. In the video - a mashup of several clips from previous Ossoff events -the Senate hopeful asks "has anyone seen David Perdue," painting his opponent as an out-of-touch and absent politician.<div type="image" title="GettyImages" height="2168" width="2891" msid="79634938" hostid="261"></div>Democrats are hoping to further capitalize on Georgia's <a href="https://time.com/5908483/georgia-youth-vote/">unprecedented turnout of young voters</a>, who were vital in helping <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-wins-georgia-democratic-party-south-presidential-election-2020-11">Biden win the state</a>. Voters aged 18-29 accounted for about 20% of the overall vote in Georgia, according to data analyzed by <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/election-week-2020#the-youth-vote-state-by-state">CIRCLE</a>, the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. About 58% of the youth vote went to Biden, compared to the 39% that Trump received, according to the data. An <a href="https://thecivicscenter.org/blog/2020/11/6/young-people-could-decide-the-georgia-runoff-races-for-us-senate">estimated 23,000 Georgia teens</a> will be eligible to vote for the first time on January 5, as they turned 18 after the November election. In one TikTik video posted Sunday, Ossoff encouraged those who became eligible to vote between November and January to register to vote by Monday's deadline. "Georgia's unprecedented youth turnout in the general election was a result of years of Georgia Democrats' hard work and Jon's relentless focus on turning out young voters. Our digital program's strategy is intended to meet young voters where they are: online," Miryam Lipper, a campaign spokesperson told Business Insider. Although TikTok has not publicly released data about the demographics of its users, a report in October from <a href="http://www.pipersandler.com/3col.aspx?id=6039">Piper Sandler</a> found it had become the second-most popular social media app for teenagers in the US, behind Snapchat but ahead of Instagram. Ossoff's campaign has also made investments in Snapchat - a platform broadly used by younger people - "to share Ossoff's life on the campaign trail" ahead of the runoff election, as <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/1/21754927/jon-ossoff-tiktok-snapchat-account-influencer-marketing">The Verge</a> reported earlier in December."TikTok is one creative element we're using to speak to young voters about the issues that impact their lives, like stopping the spread of coronavirus, protecting our environment, tackling student loan debt, and passing a New Civil Rights Act," Lipper said. Stanzi Potenza, a 25-year-old actor from Boston, made one of the videos Ossoff shared: an 80s-style infomercial that encouraged young Georgians to register to vote."I think it's a great idea," Potenza said about Ossoff's pivot to TikTok, adding that "it's a great way to communicate with younger generations."Making an effort to be engaging with younger people will encourage younger people to vote and register to vote and let them know their voice is valuable," she said.<h2>A popular TikTok presence hasn't always netted success for candidates</h2><div type="image" title="GettyImages" height="2040" width="2719" msid="79634939" hostid="261"></div>But whether a large TikTok presence and eager following turn out voters so far remains a mystery, even as the app cements itself as a social-media powerhouse.Experts who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-and-trump-gen-z-tiktok-2020-9">spoke to Insider earlier this year were split about whether candidates would regret ignoring</a> the fast-growing social-media platform. Annie Levene, a partner at the DC-based digital marketing agency Rising Tide Interactive, told Insider in October that TikTok, more than other platforms, required a certain level of authenticity, potentially posing roadblocks to candidates and their social teams.Candidates like Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ed_markey?lang=en">who embraced the platform</a>, successfully won their contentious races for office. Other candidates who amassed TikTok popularity, however, failed to garner the same enthusiasm at the ballot box. Self-described socialist Joshua Collins, <a href="https://www.insider.com/joshua-collins-democratic-socialist-is-washingtons-tiktok-candidate-2020-1">who made headlines for his TikTok campaign earlier this year</a>, lost his primary US House race in Washington in a landslide. And, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@littlesenator?lang=en">Matt Little</a>, a Democrat state senator in Minnesota known to his more than 166,000 TikTok followers as the "Little Senator," lost his bid for re-election. <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kellyrosskrout?lang=en">Kelly Krout</a>, who presently has a TikTok following of over 53,000, similarly lost her bid for the Arkansas State House. Whether politicians themselves join the platform, teens and young adults have used TikTok to voice their political concerns and opinions. Videos using <a href="https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMJq1baJ3/">#jonossoff</a>, made mostly by creators unaffiliated with his campaign, have amassed approximately 9.9 million views, according to TikTokThroughout 2020, TikTok has been the subject of numerous bipartisan concerns and political controversy over its parent company, the China-based ByteDance. The concerns bubbled up this summer when President Donald Trump began an attempt to force a sale of TikTok to a US company, or otherwise force it to cease US operations. Both presidential hopefuls this year steered clear of TikTok. Trump's absence from the platform was unsurprising given his months-long, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/second-us-judge-blocks-trump-administrations-ban-tiktok-2020-12">and so far fruitless attempt to ban the Chinese-owned app</a>. But his rival, President-elect Joe Biden was also notably absent from the platform, asking campaign staff to delete the app from their phones, despite the legion of teens and young adults using the platform as unofficial surrogates for his campaign.

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