Joshua Zitser/Insider
- Insider spoke with men who visited Ukraine's embassy in London to volunteer to fight against Russia.
- These men hope to join Ukraine's voluntary International Legion of Territorial Defense.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that 16,000 people worldwide had joined the legion.
Young men are turning up at the gates of Ukraine's embassy in Holland Park, west London, eager to become recruits in President Volodymyr Zelensky's newly formed International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Sunday that she supported British nationals joining the "struggle." Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office later distanced itself from the comment, stressing that the Foreign Office advised against travel to Ukraine.
Despite this warning, several men told Insider that they were fully aware of the dangers and, nonetheless, were ready to fly out to Ukraine and fight as soon as they were needed.
Joshua Zitser/Insider
On Wednesday morning, Andrew Luke, 33, drove 130 miles from Cardiff, Wales, to volunteer his services to the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine.
The unemployed father of two, who said he had a year's worth of experience in the British Army Reserve, said he was prepared to leave for Ukraine as soon as this weekend.
"NATO isn't doing anything about it, so the only thing we can do is take up arms and do it ourselves," he said.
Luke, who had traveled to the embassy in London to find out more information about signing up, said he planned to fly to Poland and cross the border into Ukraine imminently.
Upon arriving, as with every other would-be recruit, he was silently presented with a sheet of paper at the gates that detailed how he could join the legion, and he was instructed to take a photo of it, he said.
Joshua Zitser/Insider
The paper outlined how one could apply to a volunteer legion by emailing the embassy, and it advised that impatient recruits could book flights to Poland themselves and cross the border into Ukraine with the help of volunteers.
Luke said he was willing to do "whatever it takes" to support Ukraine because he was worried about the possibility of World War III and his young children one day living under a "Putin regime."
"I fear for their future," he said.
'I'm a young, fit man, and I can do my bit'
Callum Lawrence, a 22-year-old boxer and construction worker from London, said he was also motivated to join the foreign legion because he was scared of what the war between Russia and Ukraine could mean for the UK.
He said he had a "gut feeling" to join the International Legion of Territorial Defense after hearing about it on the news and seeing footage of women and children dying.
"I'm a young, fit man," he said. "I can go and do my bit."
Although Lawrence had no military experience, he said he thought he could be of use to Ukraine. "I'm a boxer, MMA, so I've got a bit of hand-to-hand-combat experience," he said.
Joshua Zitser/Insider
Vinnie Baldwin, 26, also thought his skills could come in handy.
Baldwin underwent extensive first-aid training as part of his job in the nightclub industry, he said. He could help "patch people up" and was willing to leave for Ukraine ASAP, he added.
He said he was also willing to take on a combat role should that be requested of him. "If they need to shove a rifle in my hands and put me on the front, then that's what they need to do," he said.
The nightclub worker said he'd do whatever he was asked to do to help Ukraine withstand the Russian invasion. "It's better than sitting with my thumb up my ass," he said.
'I hope there's some kind of training'
Another potential recruit said joining the legion would give him a purpose.
"I feel like I'm not doing anything meaningful with my life," said a 20-year-old pizzeria worker while standing outside the embassy's gates.
"Seeing the situation over there, it looks terrible. And personally, I have no combat experience, but I wanted to come here and see if I could get information to see if I could help out in any way," he continued.
The pizzeria worker said his preference would be to help Ukraine by ferrying provisions in a truck. "I hope they don't just give you a gun and say, 'Go fight,'" he added. "I hope there's some kind of training."
The 20-year-old asked not to be photographed or named because he hadn't yet told his family that he was thinking of joining the Ukrainians. Asked what his parents would think, he said, "They'd probably be horrified."
Matt Dunham/AFP via Getty Images
Some 16,000 foreigners have volunteered to fight for Ukraine, Zelensky said on Thursday.
Most of the fighters came from post-Soviet states, such as Georgia and Belarus, The Washington Post reported.
But people from across the globe have signed up.
Hundreds of residents of the Netherlands have volunteered to fight for Ukraine, Dutch media reported. About 70 Japanese men, mostly former members of the Self-Defense Forces, have applied to join the fight, Japan Today reported.
And, The Times reported, "hundreds of Britons" have written to the Ukrainian Embassy to volunteer their services.
Zelensky's International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine has historical echoes with the International Brigades that fought against the fascist-aligned nationalist forces and defended democracy in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939. An international organization of communists (Comintern) established the International Brigades, in which up to 60,000 foreigners served, including 15,000 who died in combat.
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