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Comment: Foreign fighters

Those who do go should have military training and be of military age

“The last thing that Ukraine needs at the moment is untrained foreign fighters...” | STEPHANIE LECOCQ

| Palma |

Scores if not hundreds of volunteers from Europe and further afield are heading to Ukraine to fight the Russians. While, I can´t help but admire the courage and dedication of these brave people, I do wonder if governments should try and put a stop to it.

Those who do go should have military training and be of military age, the last thing the Ukrainian government needs at the moment is having to nanny a group of foreign fighters with little training and who have never served on a battlefield.

Also, if any of these “foreign fighters” were to fall into Russian hands it would give them a diplomatic coup and could even drag western nations even further into the conflict. What Ukraine needs is weapons, food and other essentials not more fighters who, and I say this with all due respect because you have to admire their courage, may be more of a problem than a solution.

I saw one gentleman being interviewed on British media who was over 60 and his military experience extended to the territorial army. Stay home and raise money for food and other items is my advice to him, with respect of course.

Obviously the Ukrainian government would welcome former members of the Special Air Service or other elite commandos but there is a danger that there will be a flood of untrained foreign fighters who could do more damage than good.

Raising money for aid and welcoming refugees is far more important than trying to fight Russians with no military experience.

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