Abstract:
The paper dwells on the emergence, development and increase of volunteerism and the world community solidarity with Ukraine in its war against RF; on the forms and mechanisms of support, aid and direct participation of citizens from different countries on the side of Ukrainian armed forces on the front lines of the large-scale Russian-Ukrainian war. The article provides convincing examples of the volunteer activity on the side of the nation’s fighting national liberation wars for their state sovereignty in the past centuries and in different continents. It is emphasized that the Russian-Ukrainian war is a war of civilizations fought for the world democracy, human rights, freedom and progress of mankind. That is the reason why all the democratic world has responded to the challenge and demonstrates full solidarity with the valiant Ukrainian people in their fight for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of their state. The article contains background on the creation of the structural unit composed of foreign fighters, its strength, rights, as well as state measures to support the foreign volunteers’ activity on the Ukrainian territory during the war of 2014-2022. The paper draws historical parallels on the features and specifics of the participation of internationalist volunteers in the national liberation and civil wars of other countries. The activities of international volunteer groups in the Spanish Civil Conflict of 1936-1939 are considered to be the culmination of the twentieth-century volunteer movement in terms of the number of participants, the scale, the resonance and the death toll. The author cites specific examples of the formation of Spanish international brigades under the auspices of the Communist International, their victorious struggle on the side of the Second Spanish Republic, and the use of internationalist soldiers by the Soviet Union to "Sovietize" Spain. The author emphasizes the urgent need for comprehensive legal registration of the status of foreign volunteers in Ukraine.
