Nearly 1,300 people applied to join the Ukrainian Legion in Poland

Nearly 1,300 Ukrainians living in Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania and other European countries have applied to join the Ukrainian Legion based in Poland, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on January 10.

The corps was announced in July 2024 as a volunteer military unit composed of Ukrainians living in Poland and trained by the Polish armed forces.

The first volunteer recruitment center opened in October 2024 at the Ukrainian Consulate in Lublin, eastern Poland.

The second group of volunteers has signed a contract in Lublin, according to the ministry. For the first time, the new recruits include women who applied in the fields of medicine and communications.

Lieutenant Colonel Petr Pokrusha, representative of the corps command, emphasized that the number of new recruits compared to the November 2024 batch shows the growing trust of the population in this initiative.

After signing the contract, new volunteers begin training at the facilities of the Polish armed forces under the guidance of Poles and using modern weapons of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The corps was created as a way to attract Ukrainians living abroad to help defend Ukraine amid a growing manpower shortage.

The Corps will allow Ukrainians who fought in the war to return to their place of residence abroad after completing their service.

Under martial law enacted in 2022, Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave Ukraine without permission.

The United Nations estimates that 6.7 million Ukrainians have fled abroad, and that figure does not include the large number of migrants living in Europe, the United States, Canada and elsewhere since before 2022.