DISINFO: Foreign soldiers fight in Ukraine guised a mercenaries
SUMMARY
There have been so-called foreign specialists in Ukraine since the beginning of the special military operation. They have been fighting directly, that is directly in combat formations. There have been numerous reports about missiles hitting an underground bunker where 300 people died. A hotel in Kharkiv with 300 so-called French mercenaries was hit. There have been other reports about the death of a group of officers, half of whom were foreigners. What were they doing in Ukraine?
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative falsely portraying foreign volunteers fighting on Ukraine's side as 'mercenaries.'
The disinformation is based on an official statement from the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, published on March 7, the anniversary of the creation of the International Legion of Ukrainian Military Intelligence. The statement notes that “The Legion united volunteers from more than 50 countries of the world, who, after a full-scale invasion, came to the aid of Ukrainians and began to fight the troops of terrorist Russia,” the report says.
The Legion of Military Intelligence of Ukraine is a unit of foreign military volunteers, often veterans of military service. This is an official military unit that undertakes to comply with the Constitution of Ukraine, the Charter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and international laws signed by Ukraine. You can learn more about their work by watching a documentary about foreigners fighting for Ukraine against Russia.
Foreign volunteers, who officially joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in accordance with the 1977 protocol to the Geneva Conventions (Part I, Article 1), fight against the Russian occupiers in Ukraine legally, as they are a part of the structure of subordination to Ukrainian government agencies.
Concerning the report alleging that French mercenaries were killed in a missile strike on a hotel in Kharkiv on 10 January 2024, city police chief Volodymyr Tymoshko said there were no mercenaries there: ‘Servicemen never stayed in this hotel and just about everyone in Kharkiv knows this. It was used by journalists.’ French authorities said, 'France has no "mercenaries" either in Ukraine or anywhere else, unlike some people,' and labelled the assertion as 'another clumsy Russian manipulation.'
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that French Defence Ministry officials struck in Kharkiv by Russian attacks, that 60 French mercenaries lost their lives in Kharkiv, and that Two French humanitarian workers killed in Ukraine were mercenaries.