Volodymyr Zelensky has called on foreigners, especially from European countries, to fight the country's military since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The country has also established an 'international force' for this purpose. As of last week, Zelensky had listed 16,000 foreign volunteers, but did not specify how many had arrived in Ukraine.
Reuters news agency spoke to 20 such foreign fighters and their associates, most of whom said that Ukraine was struggling to examine, arm and deploy these foreigners. According to military analysts, those with little or no combat experience are valued on the battlefield, where Russian forces continue to fire incessantly. A former British military official described them as "bullet takers".
However, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry declined to comment. However, Roman, a senior Ukrainian official in charge of foreign volunteers arriving in Lviv, said the process of welcoming, training and deploying foreign fighters was still in its infancy, but that the process would be smoother in the coming days.
The reason why many of these foreign "fighters" who have come to Ukraine are appealing is that in their view an authoritarian force is attacking a democratic country without provocation, they have come to stop it.
Many of them have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, and have come to Ukraine to reclaim their previous experience, which they feel is not being used by their respective governments.
Among the foreigners who went to fight for Ukraine were dozens of former members of the British Army's elite parachute regiment, according to a former member of the regiment. Hundreds more troops are on the way, he said. However, Reuters could not confirm how many of them are going to Ukraine.
Although the number of members in the volunteer forces in Ukraine are not small, the number of experts who can launch javelin anti-tank missiles is low. It takes months for skilled soldiers to learn how to use them properly.
Ukraine's foreign ministry says 12,000 Russian troops have been killed so far in the ongoing war. According to the ministry, Ukraine has destroyed 48 Russian warplanes, 70 helicopters and more than 1,000 military vehicles.
Earlier in the week, Russia for the first time announced the casualties of its troops. They said 498 of their troops had been killed and 1,500 wounded in Ukraine. No one has been able to verify the veracity of the calculations given by the two parties.
However, according to various media reports, Russian troops are facing a major setback. Ukrainian troops have wounded Russian troops in several places. They have destroyed various military vehicles.
It has been claimed that Russian commanders thought that as soon as they attacked Ukraine, the country's troops would surrender. But that did not happen. On the contrary, the Ukrainian army put up a massive resistance. As a result, Russian troops have been conducting military operations in Ukraine for almost two weeks, but have not yet been able to capture the capital, Kiev.
However, Russia has made almost all preparations to occupy Kiev. They are currently attacking cities near Kiev. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has renewed his criticism of Western leaders.
He has been urging Westerners to declare a no-fly zone for several days. Zelensky also said that if they could not declare a no-fly zone, they should help him by plane.
After Zelensky's appeal, the West promised to help him. But so far he is angry that the help has not come.
"It's been 13 days since we've been hearing the promise," Zelensky said angrily in a televised video message on Tuesday. In 13 days we have been told that we will be assisted in the sky, there will be planes, planes will be sent to us.
Zelensky claims that the West will be responsible for the deaths of all Ukrainians in the no-fly zone and for not providing air support.
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