After nine months, authorities have still not launched systematic process for recruiting foreign volunteers – Butusov
Despite numerous statements by the authorities, over the past nine months, insufficient funds have been allocated to recruit foreign volunteers into the Ukrainian military.
Yuriy Butusov, commander of the UAV company of the 23rd Assault Regiment within the National Guard’s 2nd Corps "Charter," stated this during a live broadcast, according to Censor.NET.
What is known?
"It’s already September—just imagine, nine months of the year have passed, and we’re on our second defense minister. What do you think has changed in these nine months regarding the deployment of foreign troops? We’ve heard so many words, promises, and assurances that foreign troops would come, that we’d bring them in. Presumably, everyone thinks that in nine months in Ukraine—where there’s such an acute manpower problem, where there’s supposedly a shortage of troops on the front lines, of infantrymen and assault troops—someone has addressed this issue at the national level, something has been done, and there have been achievements," he emphasized.
According to Butusov, the recruitment of foreign volunteers is driven by enthusiasm.
"It seems that, in our country, the only people concerned about the influx of foreigners are the command of the "Charter" Corps and Hamlet Avagyan, commander of the 23rd "R.U.G." Regiment. But it doesn’t bother those people in Ukraine who give interviews, make statements, and say that something needs to be done about mobilization, that something needs to be done about the ‘busification’ of the army, that we need to recruit infantry somehow, that we need assault troops—let’s do something, let’s come up with plans and proposals."
The arrival of foreign volunteers is driven by enthusiasm. And if it weren’t for such selfless efforts and the work done to engage businesses and entrepreneurs—the efforts of Hamlet Avagyan, the regiment commander, and Igor Obolensky, the commander of the "Charter" Corps, personally—we would have simply failed completely here. There would be no people; no one would come. And all these successes demonstrated by the foreign volunteers who are storming the front lines—not Ukrainians, but exclusively foreign volunteers—are part of the "R.U.G." regiment," the commander explained.
Butusov also noted that foreign volunteers are being brought in—and have been brought in—primarily with funding from philanthropists, businesspeople, and Ukrainians, thanks to the support of the Zaporizhzhia Military-Civilian Administration and solely through the initiative of two National Guard commanders.
"The government is not making sufficient efforts to reduce the losses among Ukrainian citizens and the recruitment of Ukrainians into infantry and assault units; efforts to ensure that fewer Ukrainians fight in the infantry and more foreign volunteers join the infantry are not being carried out to the necessary extent. I want to say that this meeting has now been going on for nine months. The National Security and Defense Council and Ihor Klymenko are paying attention to this, as are the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the National Guard command. But while there is a lot of attention, there are no decisions requiring action by the government, directives from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, accountability from top leadership, or the allocation of actual funds from the budget."
Remember those high-profile interviews with Defense Minister Fedorov and the president’s statements about bringing in foreigners? Well, unfortunately, this wasn’t backed up by funding. No money has been allocated to bring in foreign workers. There were words, promises, proposals, and plans. And many people think, "Well, I guess everything’s working out." No, it’s not. And the country’s leadership needs to pay attention to this now. You can’t just get by on words alone.
"It makes more sense to bring in foreign volunteers who are physically fit, motivated, and ready to fight than to keep rounding up people on the streets in such large numbers. Well, we could do that less often. We don't need to do it this way," he concluded.
Watch Yuriy Butusov's broadcast at this link.
