City volunteers ‘ask to join fight against Russia’
MEN in Birmingham and the Black Country are volunteering to travel to Kyiv to fight invading Russian forces, the chairman of the Association of Ukrainians has claimed.
They allegedly came forward after Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she would support UK nationals taking part in the battle ‘for democracy’.
Andrew Duda, chairman of the Black Country branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said he had been contacted by a number of individuals. But a former Attorney General has warned those taking up arms abroad would be committing a criminal offence.
Mr Duda, 58, said: “I have been contacted in the last few days by local men who have said they want to go out and fight to help the Ukrainians, these were private individuals with Black Country and possibly Birmingham accents. This has only happened since it was reported that Britain would support anyone who wanted to go out and fight.
“These individuals told me that they would like to go out to Ukraine and fight the Russians and they needed to know how to go about it. Without encouraging anyone, I said,’ I don’t know’. I said they could look at commercial flight ways of getting to the Ukraine border and figure it out from there, I suppose.
“I would say the men who contacted me were in their 20s or 30s. It’s been a short number of people who have got in touch about this.”
Mr Duda’s late parents were from the Ukraine and he has relatives living in the city of Lviv. “They tell me it’s relatively quiet there. They have heard some explosions,” he said.
He added men aged between 16 and 60 have been conscripted to fight - with food running low in some cities.
“Older people are stocking up on food, I understand,” he said. “I understand it’s thought there’s about 20 days of food left in Lviv, possibly less in Kyiv. “I have no idea what is going to happen. I dread waking up every morning to think that Kyiv has fallen and so far that hasn’t happened. Even if that happens I think there would be Ukrainian guerrilla fighting, snipers, until the Russians get out.
“I believe the sanctions against Russia will mean that eventually the oligarchs who still have money could be asked by Mr Putin to prop up the Russian economy and sooner or later the crashed rouble will run out.
“The whole of the Russian economy could become worthless and very soon the Russian people would see what he has done to my country and hopefully people will turn him over or even those within his own ranks. That’s my hope.”
In a weekend TV interview, Liz Trust replied “absolutely” when asked whether she would back anyone wanting to volunteer to help the Ukrainians fighting for their freedom.
She said: “That is something people can make their own decisions about.
“The people of Ukraine are fighting for freedom and democracy, not just for Ukraine, but for the whole of Europe.
“Absolutely, if people want to support that struggle, I would support them in doing that.”
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky also said at the weekend that he would be setting up an international legion for volunteers.
But former Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve said UK nationals taking up arms abroad could be prosecuted.
He said: “...unless the UK government gives formal licence to people to go to Ukraine, they would be in breach of the Foreign Enlistment Act and committing a criminal offence.”