For Foreign Fighters, Ukraine Offers Purpose, Camaraderie and a Cause

REUTERS.COM: LVIV, Ukraine, March 7 (Reuters) - Michael Ferkol, who once served as a supply specialist with engineer battalions in the U.S. Army, had been in Rome studying archaeology when he heard the Ukrainian president's appeal for foreign fighters.

Within days, Ferkol said, he presented himself at a military recruiting office in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, hoping to be taken on as a frontline paramedic.

"I told them I wanted to triage patients," said the 29-year- old, who has no combat experience. "There was a Finnish guy there too, and he was like, 'I just want to kill Russians.'"

Ukraine has established an "international" legion for people from abroad and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has publicly urged foreigners to "fight side-by-side with Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals" to show support for his country. Last week, Zelenskiy said that more than 16,000 foreigners had volunteered, without specifying how many had arrived.

Some foreign fighters arriving in Ukraine say they are attracted by the cause: to halt what they view as an unprovoked attack in a once-in-a-generation showdown between the forces of democracy and dictatorship. For others, many of them veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, the Ukraine war also offers a chance to use fighting skills they felt their own governments no longer appreciated. » | Andrew R.c. Marshall | Monday, March 7, 2022

Zelenskiy Calls for US to Send Aircraft to Ukraine in Video Call with US Congress

THE GUARDIAN: President made a ‘desperate plea’ for military aid to more than 280 senators and representatives as Congress works on $10bn package

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked the US for planes, drones and anti-aircraft missiles. Photograph: Ukrainian Presidency Press Offic/Zuma Press Wire Service/Rex/Shutterstock
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, urged US lawmakers to help provide aircraft to defend the country against Russian invasion during a video meeting with members of Congress on Saturday.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, said Zelenskiy “made a desperate plea” for the military aid, which would include planes, drones and anti-aircraft missiles. The Ukrainian president praised sanctions placed upon Russia during the meeting but pressed US lawmakers to go further by banning oil imports from Moscow.

“These planes are very much needed,” Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement following the gathering of more than 280 senators and House of Representative members. “And I will do all I can to help the administration to facilitate their transfer.” » | Oliver Milman in New York | Saturday, March 5, 2022

Today, Ukraine Is Israel: We Implore Jews across the World to Come to Our Aid

THE TIMES OF ISRAEL – BLOG: President Zelensky's chief of staff writes for Times of Israel: Just as the Jews fell victim to Nazis, Ukrainians are falling victim to Russia’s efforts to commit acts of genocide

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posts a video of himself and his team outside the presidential headquarters in Kyiv on February 25, 2022. The author is behind him on the right. (Screen capture/Twitter)
Putin says he’s coming to “de-nazify” Ukraine. Ukraine, with the third-largest Jewish population in Europe and the fifth-largest in the world. Ukraine, with a Jewish President and formerly a Jewish Prime Minister. Ukraine – the only country that was once part of the Soviet Union that can make these claims.

The history of the Jewish people in Ukraine is not new. It goes back to the time of Kyivan Rus’ at the turn of the 10th century. These early Jews gave rise to Hasidic Judaism, which today is practiced across Europe and in Israel and the United States. Uman, a city in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, is a pilgrimage site for Breslov Hasidic Jews that regularly attracts throngs of tourists.

Despite the vibrancy of the Jewish community in Ukraine, history has not always been peaceful for Ukraine’s Jews. Jews have long been targeted in Ukraine, as elsewhere in Europe, culminating in the mass atrocities of the Holocaust. The site of the Babyn Yar memorial in Kyiv is dedicated to the hallowed ground that claimed more than 30 thousand Jewish souls murdered by the Nazis. » | Andriy Yermak * | Friday, March 4, 2022

* Andriy Yermak is head of the Presidential Office of Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelensky: Russian Mercenaries Ordered to Kill Ukraine’s President

President Zelensky agreed to send a delegation to meet a Russian team at the Belarus border | UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/EPA
THE TIMES: More than 400 Russian mercenaries are operating in Kyiv with orders from the Kremlin to assassinate President Zelensky and his government and prepare the ground for Moscow to take control, The Times has learnt.

The Wagner Group, a private militia run by one of President Putin’s closest allies and operating as an arm-length branch of the state, flew in mercenaries from Africa five weeks ago on a mission to decapitate Zelensky’s government in return for a handsome financial bonus.

Information about their mission reached the Ukrainian government on Saturday morning and hours later Kyiv declared a 36-hour “hard” curfew to sweep the city for Russian saboteurs, warning civilians that they would be seen as Kremlin agents and risked being “liquidated” if they stepped outside. » | Manveen Rana | Monday, February 28, 2022

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