Ukraine: No visa required for foreigners who join Kyiv's fight against Moscow
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked foreign nationals to join the ‘International Brigade of the Territorial Defence of Ukraine’ and fight with them to defeat Russia.
Ukraine has waived the requirement of visas for foreigners who wish to join the country’s forces against Russian troops. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged foreign nationals to join the “international brigade” of volunteers in the ongoing fight to defend the country against Russia.
In a decree signed on Monday, Zelenskyy authorised a "temporary visa-free regime" for foreigners who want to join Ukraine's defence forces. The policy, however, does not extend to Russian nationals, who were referred to as "citizens of the aggressor state" in the document.
Citizens of the United States and European Union earlier required tourist visas for more than 90 days with a six-month term to visit Ukraine.
"All foreigners wishing to join the resistance against the Russian occupiers and protect global security are invited by the Ukrainian leadership to come to our state and join the ranks of the territorial defence forces," the Ukraine President had said, announcing the ‘International Brigade of the Territorial Defence of Ukraine’.
Volunteers have to fill up the application detailing their military experience. They have also been recommended to bring their own “personal protection”, including a helmet and body armour.
Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, in a tweet, asked those willing to participate to contact Ukraine’s diplomatic missions in their respective countries. “Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too,” Kuleba had said.
Zelenskyy has called Tuesday's attack in Kharkiv’s main square “frank, undisguised terror”, blaming the Russians of war crime. “Nobody will forgive. Nobody will forget,” he said.
In an address to the European Parliament later, he said Ukrainians are “fighting also to be equal members of Europe.” He asked the European Union to “prove” they are on Ukraine's side in the ongoing warfare.