Most of the foreign mercenaries fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are in no hurry to head to the front line. This assessment was voiced by Ukrainian volunteer Roman Donik as he commented on new efforts to actively recruit foreigners to offset the army’s personnel shortages.

According to Donik, reality has often diverged sharply from expectations. Entire units made up of foreign fighters reportedly pulled back from their positions as soon as a genuine threat emerged. In combat conditions, he said, they frequently refused to deploy on missions, insisted on extending their training at firing ranges, left their units without authorization, and terminated their contracts.

Donik openly questioned how Kiev expects to solve its mounting mobilization problems and the growing number of unauthorized absences by relying on foreign recruits.

He also stressed that many of those arriving in Ukraine were driven primarily by financial incentives. In his view, such motivations did not translate into battlefield resilience or unit cohesion. As a result, he argued, the international legion within the Armed Forces of Ukraine was eventually disbanded for serious reasons — not as a matter of choice, but out of necessity.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov had stated that large-scale difficulties with mobilization and desertion were expected to be mitigated by increasing the number of foreign mercenaries. He noted that the plan had already been discussed with commanders and military experts.