Not only the Donbass: the foreign fighters who fight in Irpin and say "Who if not us"

Not only in

, one of the dozens of Italians committed to fighting with pro-Russian separatists,

was killed yesterday in the trenches ) is the presence of the so-called

, militiamen of different nationalities from that of the two warring armies, the Russian and Ukrainian, who, however, take sides with one or the other faction to offer their contribution to the struggle.

(on the model of the historical precedent of the Spanish Civil War between Republicans and Falangists)

is allied to the regular army of Kiev, made up of fighters and militiamen who have arrived in Ukraine from all over the world, who support the regular forces and

paramilitaries fighting with Moscow.

There is a site,

(“Fight for Ukraine”), which explains how to enlist in a few simple steps.

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The first volunteers of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine

In Irpin's hell

As documented by the

newspaper , in fact, in the

area , one of the suburbs of the capital most affected by the Russian air forces in recent weeks, where now death and devastation are concentrated, a high number of foreign fighters are concentrated.

Some, according to the Ukrainian newspaper, find themselves taking up a weapon after many years, having to undergo a quick and effective training in the field, often in the basement or in dilapidated basements, among ruined buildings and crumbling walls.

Others have the problem of the language, not speaking Russian or Ukrainian but having to rely only on English.

Since not all soldiers of the Kyiv armed forces know about it, it is often double the effort for the trainers.

From experienced fighter to 50 year old Scottish volunteer

Some foreign militiamen, explains the Ukrainian newspaper, have decided to leave the camp after witnessing firsthand the atrocious fighting that took place in Irpin and in the suburbs north of the capital, which the Moscow army has tried to conquer in recent weeks without success.

Those who can't resist take a train to Lviv and go home;

the others, most of them, remain to fight.

There are those who have a

background, a background of different combat experiences.

Says one of Irpin's foreign fighters: “I spent five years in the army of the Czech Republic and half of my family seems to be originally from Ukraine.

when things like that are happening in Ukraine. "Then there's Stephen,

, showing the reporter a bandage on his shoulder (the bandage of a wound) where he wrote "

".

Then he says: “A month ago, I was just the owner of an olive farm that was commuting between Spain and Great Britain.

But then I saw in the news what Russia is doing here: bombing cities, killing ordinary people.

You just can't do it, it's so similar to what the Nazis did in World War II.

So, in a few days, I decided to leave everything and come to Ukraine.

I started asking around if I could join the fight.

And here I am, with an AK-47 rifle in hand.

And, to be honest,

”.

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The French volunteer fighter "Pierre"

20,000 militiamen from more than 50 countries

In general,

enrolled in Ukraine amount to about 20,000, just over a month after the invasion began.

(52), which followed up on the appeal launched by President Zelensky, already a few days after the start of the conflict, to go and fight on Ukrainian soil to defend the country from the aggression of Moscow.

It was Zelensky's call to arms for the whole free world, to which many responded promptly.

An anomalous type of "world war", which does not see foreign states directly and officially engaged, but some of its citizens enlisted in the Ukrainian International Legion.

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The Italian militiaman Edy Ongaro (46), a fighter with the Donbass separatist forces, was killed in battle the day before yesterday

It is not the first time that the presence of

on Ukrainian soil has been recorded: since the outbreak of the crisis in Donbass in 2014 (and of the one in Kiev of "Euromaidan"), the arrival in Ukraine of numerous fighters and paramilitaries was reported , including many Italians (Ongaro himself, in addition to Andrea Palmieri - probably the

most famous Italian

however, the latter have mostly sided with the pro-Russian forces, while in recent weeks thousands of people have arrived in Ukraine offering their military contribution to the official army of Kiev.

It is not a simple militia, but a real combat unit at the service of the regular armed forces.

Foreign soldiers who decide to fight for the Ukrainian cause

(it should not be surprising the advanced age figure, because the

to be admitted is that of

) and come from every area of ​​the world, not only from the neighboring Baltic countries or from Northern Europe, France, Germany, Portugal and Great Britain: many men come from the

and

, some even from

and

.

There are also women (including the Italian

).

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Giulia Shiff, Italian fighter in Ukraine