Foreign fighters risk prison back home
Some foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine may face legal charges in their home countries for unauthorized military service abroad — yet they keep coming. Yu, a South Korean veteran, is one of them.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Yu* keeps a big secret. He has been carefully hiding it for three years, even from his friends, whom he left thousands of miles away without any explanation.
“If they knew, they might call the police…I will probably go to prison,” said Yu.
Once a South Korean former Marine Corps sergeant and a Korean Army reservist, he crossed the Ukrainian border in 2023 to fight against Russia.
Yu knew it might be a one-way ticket, that he might never return home if the authorities found out he had joined the Ukrainian army. He could easily face real prison time. In his country, simply visiting Ukraine could be considered a crime.
Yu’s fears are well-grounded. Earlier this month, Australian police charged a citizen for serving in the Ukrainian military without governmental authorization. This drone operator who fought against Russian forces and returned home to Australia in January 2026 can now face up to 20 years in prison for violating domestic laws.
This case briefly lifted a curtain on something that has quietly grown to an enormous scale.
As of early 2026, more than 20,000 foreign volunteers from dozens of countries are serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces — roughly two percent of Ukraine’s total military strength. They sign contracts, receive legal residency support, and serve alongside Ukrainian soldiers, although they might be breaking laws in their own countries for fighting abroad.
The Australian case exposed a reality that governments tried to ignore: thousands of volunteers made life-changing choices to defend democratic values, only to find that their home countries offered no legal path back home but the threat of prison.
Yu grew up in a country that has lived under the shadow of potential escalation from its neighbor, North Korea. Like all South Korean men under the age of 35, he was required to complete mandatory military service, as the war with North Korea never officially ended. He spent 21 months in the Republic of Korea Marine Corps, serving as an artillery squad leader on Baekryeong Island — a frontline outpost just 20 kilometers from the North Korean border.
But now he must hide his service in Ukraine to avoid being criminalized by the nation that trained him to fight in the first place.
His choice to fight on behalf of Ukraine was personal. “I did not like the fact that Russia supports North Korea and China…If Russia were to occupy Ukraine…North Korea, possibly together with China, could threaten or invade South Korea,” Yu said “That is why I see defending Ukraine as ultimately helping to defend Korea as well.”
He is not alone in this logic. In conversations with other Korean volunteers, in messages passed carefully between people who do not ask each other’s names, there’s a common thread: the war in Ukraine is not a European war. They have a consensus that this war is the first move in a sequence of wars that could end on the Korean Peninsula.
Before leaving to fight for Ukraine, Yu decided to tell his parents his secret. Of course, they were worried. It’s one thing if their son was simply doing his mandatory military service; it’s another to send their child to the other side of the world to fight in an active war. But they did not try to stop him.
“I said: ‘Don’t worry. Artillery is safer than infantry. I can make my own choices.’”
Yu had already visited Ukraine as a traveler before the war. He already knew the country well enough: where to buy a SIM card, where to eat, and how to pass border control.
When he arrived at the border in 2023, he told the Ukrainian authorities directly: he wanted to join the International Legion. Yu was sent to a military base for a three-week training. As he already had some military experience, it was shorter than a standard one, which could last up to three months.
“In Korea, there are so many artillery systems and very good missiles. We can supply our shells. But that’s all. We don’t actually have war experience [like the Ukrainian army],” said Yu.
Yu was assigned as an anti-tank soldier and served the next six months with the Second International Battalion.
“Legally, foreigners here have the same rights as Ukrainians: they sign the same contract. The only difference is that they can terminate it at will after six months of service. It takes one month from filing the report to being discharged,” explained Oleksandr Klymchuk, a lawyer specializing in legal support for military personnel—and a war veteran himself.
In the very first days of the full-scale war, Zelenskyy called on foreigners to come and serve in Ukraine to repel Russian aggression. Volunteer service in foreign conflicts is fairly common — it was practiced, for example, during the wars in Afghanistan and Syria. By 2026, volunteers from 75 countries had arrived in Ukraine and joined the Armed Forces.
These foreign fighters’ choices often stem from a desire to defend democratic values, support Ukraine against aggression, and a belief that a threat to European security is a global threat, like Yu does.
Until late 2025, the international legions remained in separate formations within Ukraine’s military. But eventually, Ukraine integrated foreign fighters into regular assault formations to “have access to heavy equipment, resources, and the logistics of regular formations,” according to the Ministry of Defense.
Yu exercised the right to withdraw from the military after six months. But his reasons for leaving were not about the war, he said. They were about wanting to be more useful in it. Assigned to an anti-tank unit, he was prevented from returning to his specialty due to the language barrier.
“If I knew Ukrainian better, I could become an artilleryman,” Yu said.
So he enrolled in a preparatory course at a Ukrainian university, studying the language, literature, and history. The plan was to come back — better equipped, in the right role.
For Yu, the contract that made him a legal soldier in Ukraine makes him a fugitive at home. South Korea’s Passport Act designates Ukraine as a forbidden travel zone. Entering without government authorization, regardless of purpose, may be a criminal offense, punishable by up to 1 year in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won (or $7,500). Several South Koreans have already been convicted under this law for traveling to Ukraine.
Although South Korea’s government largely supports Ukraine in its war against Russia, it still fears damaging economic ties with Moscow and the threat of escalation with North Korea, with which Russia is exchanging military and nuclear technologies.
South Korea is not the only country where fighting in foreign wars is forbidden. Montenegro legislation criminalizes participation in foreign conflicts, with prison sentences for citizens who join armed forces abroad. In Albania, the law prohibits citizens from joining foreign wars, and violations can lead to significant prison sentences. Across dozens of countries, the same contradiction holds: a person can be a legal combatant in Ukraine and a criminal at home simultaneously.
But several nations have already carved out their own legal ‘corridors’ to allow their citizens to fight alongside Ukraine. For instance, in February 2022, Latvia passed urgent amendments to its National Security Law, officially granting its citizens the right to serve in the Ukrainian International Legion. Denmark and the United Kingdom have taken a path of declarative support, where high-level political statements provide de facto guarantees against criminal prosecution for returning veterans.
A unique model is demonstrated by Czechia: despite a formal legal ban on serving in foreign militaries, the president utilizes a mechanism of individual pardons or collective abolition, effectively shielding volunteers from liability.
For those who cannot return safely back to their homeland and risk prison, Ukraine has created some legal pathways of its own. In 2024, parliament passed a law simplifying citizenship for foreign volunteers, reducing the required service period from three to one year. However, this system is far from perfect, as foreigners seeking citizenship often face bureaucratic hurdles that significantly delay the process.
Yu’s friends in Seoul still do not know where he has been. They know he works in Ukraine, in business. When the topic of the war comes up, some of them repeat things he disagrees with — that the eastern territories were always Russian, that this is a European problem, that Korea has no stake in it. Yu does not argue with his friends. He listens and says nothing.
“If they really understood — if we were Ukrainian, and North Korea was invading, what would we do? We would fight. We would fight for our territory, for our families. Maybe after ten years I can tell them my story. But now I’m not ready.”
He feels at home in Ukraine. If he could return to serve as an artilleryman — his original specialty — he would want to. But first, he says, he needs to know the language to fully share his artillery experience, to communicate with his unit, to be as useful as he was trained to be.
Yu wants to stay in Ukraine if possible, at least while his future in South Korea remains uncertain.
“Even when the war ends, I do not know whether I will be able to return.”
*We are not disclosing the full name of our character, as he is at risk of facing legal charges for his Ukrainian service in South Korea.
Editor’s Note:
This month, The Counteroffensive turns three. Over that time, we’ve focused on human-centered stories about the most important events in Ukraine.
But it was impossible to do without your support.
If you believe in reporting that goes beyond headlines, that takes time, trust, and being on the ground, we ask you to stand with us.
NEWS OF THE DAY:
By Oleksandra Khelemendyk, Oleksandra Poda
Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.
DRUZHBA OIL PIPELINE TO BE RELAUNCHED: Ukraine is planning to resume oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline on Tuesday, anonymous sources told Bloomberg.
Druzhba was damaged in a Russian attack in January. It supplied oil to Slovakia and Hungary, which conditioned a €90 billion ($106 billion) loan for Kyiv on the pipeline being fixed.
Ukraine only has enough funds to defend itself until June, so the funding blocked by Hungary’s ousted Prime Minister Viktor Orban since December is crucial for it to continue fighting.
EU ambassadors will discuss the loan again on Wednesday.
Hungary and Slovakia are temporarily exempt from the EU-imposed restrictions on direct purchases of Russian oil since 2022, but the European Commission plans to phase this practice out by the end of 2027 at the latest.
HUNGARY’S NEW PRIME MINISTER READY TO DISCUSS STOLEN FUNDS: Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza Party, who won Hungary’s parliamentary elections, is willing to discuss the confiscated assets of Oschadbank with Ukraine after taking office as prime minister.
On March 5, two vehicles carrying $40 million, €35 million, nine kilograms of gold, and seven members of the Oschadbank cash-in-transit team were detained in Budapest. Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Hungary’s current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of having stolen a shipment.
RUSSIA MOVES TO EXPLOIT OCCUPIED UKRAINE’S MINERALS: A Russian company affiliated with the state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec has been granted a license to develop one of the world’s five largest manganese deposits in the occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region.
The deposit contains approximately 1.7 billion tons of reserves with a manganese content of over 25% — enough to sustain production for up to 100 years. Developing the site is estimated to require up to 100 billion rubles (approximately $1.1 billion).
Manganese is a crucial component in steel production and plays an important role in the manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles. Peace talks are stalled as Russia extracts Ukraine’s natural resources.
NEW DETAILS ON THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN KYIV: The gunman who opened fire in Kyiv posted anti-Ukrainian and anti-Semitic messages, denied Ukraine’s right to exist, and expressed a desire for Russia to have occupied Bakhmut sooner.
Footage of the shooting showed two officers fleeing the scene after initial gunfire. As a result, Yevhen Zhukov, the head of Ukraine’s patrol police, resigned, and the officers seen in the video were placed under investigation by the State Bureau of Investigations.
The gunman served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces from 1992 to 2005, and moved between Russia and Ukraine, ultimately settling down in Kyiv. The weapon was legally registered, and the permit was renewed in December 2025 with a valid medical certificate.
According to Minister Klymenko, the shooting will not trigger mass checks of gun owners.
DOG OF WAR:
Zhuzha often attends trainings and conferences with her owner, a Ukrainian human rights defender. It’s windy outside, so she is wearing her stylish warm sweater.
Stay safe out there.
Best,
Kateryna, Anastasiia, Mariana
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Thank you for sharing the realities of the war with the rest of the world. I find the foreign volunteers to be brave and thinking of something bigger than themselves; democracy. It's tragic that those who want to fight for democracy are branded as criminals in other democracies, but a dictatorship or authoritarian regime would gladly send their fighters to other dictatorships to fight for a despot. North Korea seems to gladly send their own ro fight with Russia. Democracies need to realize they are not islands on their own and that they are part of a democratic world community that includes Ukraine.
As Russia aids Iran in its war efforts that target Americans, trump the traitor aids Russia and is willing to now aid Iran. So the current American admin is helping its enemies while disavowing its democratic allies. It's madness. I admire the Ukrainians and their foreign fighters for their bravery and self sacrifice.
The answer to the question “Should governments allow their citizens to participate in foreign armies, including and especially in combat,” is very arguably the wrong question.
I’d assert that the right question is “Under what legitimate theory of domestic law does any nation have any claim whatsoever over the actions of citizens living outside of the territory of that nation?”
This whole bullshit of extra-territorial jurisdiction runs directly into the teeth of the single solitary legit legal doctrine for human rights, the UNDHR. Governments forget far too often that they exist and serve only by the consent of citizens. Citizens are the ultimate masters. Governors have a revocable permission to govern.