War in Ukraine: kyiv opens recruitment center for Ukrainians from abroad in Poland

kyiv authorities announced Thursday the opening in Poland of the first recruitment office of the “Ukrainian Legion” aimed at attracting Ukrainians from abroad to join their country’s army. The office is located on the premises of the Ukrainian Consulate in Lublin, eastern Poland.

A military medical commission “with all the necessary equipment to conduct examinations and issue certificates of fitness for service” works in the center, said Ivan Gavryliuk, a Ukrainian deputy defense minister, according to a statement. “After registration, training of volunteers will take place on the training ground” in Poland, he added. Ukraine must provide uniforms and logistical support, Poland weapons and other equipment.

The “Ukrainian Legion” project was announced by kyiv in July. Exhausted by heavy losses after more than two and a half years of Russian invasion, the Ukrainian army is seeking to recruit among the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men living in Europe, especially in Poland and Germany, some of whom have fled the country illegally precisely for fear of being mobilized. In July, kyiv estimated the number of Ukrainians of fighting age in Poland at 300,000.

Nearly 200 interview requests

The recruitment process for the Legion is carried out via the Internet or through consulates and embassies. During the first days of opening of the recruitment center in Lublin, 138 interview requests were received via the Internet and another 58 through consular offices, according to the press release.

Asked by online news portal WP. pl on the “Ukrainian Legion”, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz indicated on Wednesday that “Poland was ready to train Ukrainian soldiers”, but that according to his information “the number of people who would have come forward on the Ukrainian side was too small” to initiate the formation of a unit.