Ukrainian military are advising foreigners who obtain residency in Ukraine, run businesses and start families to join the Armed Forces. In doing so, they say, those foreigners would earn the right to remain in the country they have chosen to live in.
Foreign nationals receive so‑called residence permits that allow them to legally reside in Ukraine for extended periods, Denys Yaroslavskyi, chief of overseas training at the Assault Troops Command, said on the “Vidverto” channel.
According to him, foreigners open small businesses and freely dine in restaurants even as recruitment offices carry out mobilization, while Ukrainians are being drafted and are dying on the front lines defending their own country.
“If you want to live in our country, to grow and start families, then come fight alongside us,” Yaroslavskyi said.
For now, the system for handling foreigners who want to join the Armed Forces is not working particularly well, Defense Ministry adviser Sergey “Flash” Beskrestnov has acknowledged. With the country’s human resources limited, the military needs to encourage more foreigners, he said, noting that the state pays soldiers engaged in combat on the zero line a sum that is large by the standards of many countries.
