Canadians Can Decide Themselves Whether to Join Ukraine’s Foreign Legion, Joly Says

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks on as Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly speaks during a news conference, in Ottawa on Feb. 25, 2022. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said she will leave it to individual Canadians to decide if they want to join Ukraine’s new foreign legion to fight against Russia’s invasion.

Speaking at a press conference on Feb. 27, Joly said it is up to Canadians to decide whether they want to join Ukraine in the fight against Russia, while also stressing that the government has warned against travelling to Ukraine due to security reasons.

“We understand that people of Ukrainian descent want to support their fellow Ukrainians and also that there is a desire to defend the motherland. In that sense, it’s their own individual decisions,” she said. “But let me be clear: we are all very supportive of any form of support to Ukrainians right now.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in the early hours of Feb. 27 that he is forming a foreign international legion for volunteers from abroad to join him in countering Russia’s invasion of his country.

“This will be the key evidence of your support for our country,” Zelenskiy said in a statement.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba followed up by saying foreigners willing to join the volunteer army can reach out to Ukraine’s diplomatic missions stationed in their home countries.

“Foreigners willing to defend Ukraine and world order as part of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine, I invite you to contact foreign diplomatic missions of Ukraine in your respective countries,” Kuleba said on Twitter, about an hour after Zelensky’s announcement.

“Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin, too.”

Meanwhile, Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also said she would support British citizens who decide to fight alongside the Ukrainians against Russian military forces.

In an interview on BBC’s Sunday Morning on Feb. 27, Truss was asked if she would support British nationals who decide to answer Zelensky’s call, and she said “absolutely.”

“That is something that people can make their own decisions about,” she said.

“The people of Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy, not just for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe. ... And absolutely, if people want to support that struggle, I would support them in doing that.”

In an appeal to the world, the Ukrainian government stressed that the fight against Russia has a lot of things at stake besides the invasion of their homeland.

“This is the beginning of a war against Europe, against European structures, against democracy, against basic human rights, against a global order of law, rules and peaceful coexistence,” the Ukraine Crisis Media Center said in a news release on Feb. 27.

Reuters contributed to this report.