CODE 9.2 Regiment: foreign legions to get second wind in army
The 1st International Legion has become part of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2. What do the regiment’s commanders and legion service members who have received a new status say about the merger, and does it amount to disbanding units made up largely of foreigners?
Oleksandr (Flint) Nastenko, Commander of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
This is the first contract our regiment has signed with a foreign national.
This is a second wind that legions, foreign legions, will get in our army.
As the regiment commander, I will do everything I can to ensure the guys serve well and have everything they need.
Inari, Combat Medic of the 1st International Legion’s Infantry Battalion of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
There are a lot of rumors that this is supposedly a very bad thing and that some people aren’t happy about it, but I see only progress in it. At some point, it seems to me people lose their critical thinking and start going, "That’s it, that’s it." No, I believe this will only drive further development. I joined up here, and I’m happy with it.
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Today, four people from my unit, including me, left it and came here. Now we’ll be joining in small batches, gradually, and there will be many of us.
Andrii (Did) Mishchenko, Chief of Staff of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
The way this is being blown up right now, "oh no, oh no, betrayal, they’re being disbanded", I’ve seen those stories, and it’s… complete BS. People are stirring it up. Those who...On the one hand, those who aren’t really into the details and just see what’s being said there. But those talking it up, I’ve seen the command of the 2nd Legion...well, either they haven’t fully figured it out, or maybe they have interests of their own.
Chechen, Commander of the 1st International Legion’s Infantry Battalion of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
Like any change, we’re not used to changes; they come hard, but I see only positives in this, because once we joined the regiment, we gained a lot of advantages. We got better supply support, and we got clear tasks that we will carry out. Before that, the legions were always attached to other units and were basically just stopgaps; they weren’t really taken into account, and the supply situation was so-so. When we joined the regiment, we immediately got a lot of benefits. I see only positives in this, and we’re going to keep building on it.
CODE 9.2 comes from the 92nd Brigade, and we were attached to the 92nd Brigade both in 2022 and in 2023. So this story goes back a long way, and we have a lot of shared combat experiences, people know each other, and that also has a positive effect on transferring people into the regiment.
People know these commanders; they’ve seen them in the same ranks, in combat, and foreigners respect that; they trust these commanders.
Solo, a Service Member of the 1st International Legion’s Infantry Battalion of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
I know the commander; he knows how my team works, he has worked with us before. He knows how to get the best out of me, because I know how to get that result out of my people. Working with this commander will be easy for me. He’s a great man; he listens more than he argues. That’s exactly why I think we’ll work well here. We’ll only get better.
I’ve seen this unit grow, from what it used to be to what it has become. I can see this unit has a strong future.
Andrii (Did) Mishchenko, Chief of Staff of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
The authorized strength of the International Legion infantry battalion in our regiment is larger, in terms of structure, than it was in the legion before. Both in headcount and in how it is staffed. There are positions that didn’t exist in the legion. Right now, when transferring people, we give them a choice and options, where they want to go. We also have a major UAV component within that same infantry element.
The regiment has its own heavy artillery: 155mm, 122mm, and 105mm systems. That means our own support for our own units.+++ The legion never had anything like that. Their table of organization includes a large number of armored vehicles, real armor, they will be operating with.
Solo, a Service Member of the 1st International Legion’s Infantry Battalion of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
I came here after Zelenskyy called on us. I flew in, entered Ukraine via Poland, and joined the International Legion. Everything was just getting started; the first battalion was only beginning to form, and I helped with that process.
I’m one of two or three people who joined the army and never even left the country.
It’s a tough experience, because it’s a process of integrating into the Ukrainian military and trying to find a balance between Western soldiers and the realities of the war. Ukrainians have to go through it, it’s hard. A lot of Westerners come here with inflated expectations because they come from better-prepared militaries and join something that is resisting one of the largest armies in the world.
Andrii (Did) Mishchenko, Chief of Staff of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
The peculiarity of the use of legions has always been... the legions were used as attached units. That is, a brigade is fighting, and a legion company tactical group (CTGr) or some small group is sent there; they arrive, establish communications with the command, and so on. Unfortunately, in our army, the attitude toward attached units, units that aren’t our own, is different. And every commander will make the call on whom to send, his own people or not his own, and it ends up being the not his own.
Here, the whole picture changes. They become part of a group, part of a team, part of a family, and on top of everything else I’m about to mention, they have their own permanent command and are treated as our own, not as an attached unit.
Former service members of the 1st International Legion have signed contracts with the new unit. What’s more, the regiment has already taken in new foreigners who have decided to become part of the Ukrainian military for the first time.
Olaf, a Service Member of the 1st International Legion’s Infantry Battalion of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
I’m from Sweden, from a small village in the middle of nowhere.
I’m here because I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror if I hadn’t come.
I don’t have any personal ties here, except for a kind of moral connection.
I honestly don’t know what pushed me to take this step, but I felt I had to come, I had to do it.
During my training here in Ukraine, representatives of different units would come to us and talk about what they do. And if you’re a good enough specialist, you can choose any unit, which is what I did.
And I’m really afraid of screwing up, that’s what scares me the most. Not that I might get shot or wounded, but that other people could get hurt because of my actions, that’s my biggest fear.
Inari, Combat Medic of the 1st International Legion’s Infantry Battalion of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
My call sign is Inari. I’m originally from Belarus, and I currently serve as a combat medic.
My parents brought me to Ukraine when I was very young, but my citizenship remained Belarusian. My father is Ukrainian, my mother is Belarusian, and all my relatives currently live in Belarus, they’re already being targeted by the KGB. There have been a couple of interviews about me on Belarusian channels, unfortunately…
I had been trying to join the Ukrainian military since the summer of 2022, but those were tough times, few people wanted to take women, and the bureaucracy itself was very difficult, with a lot of checks that dragged on until May 2023. So I only got into the Ukrainian military… It was on May 29, 2023.
I have a medical education, I got it in Kharkiv. I graduated from a medical college in 2022, and right after I received my diploma, I thought, "That’s it, it’s time."
Andrii (Did) Mishchenko, Сhief of Staff of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
It’s an unambiguous plus for the military, and an unambiguous plus for developing how legionnaires operate in Ukraine, and we are definitely not losing them. People leave, people come in, recruitment continues. Please, come join. And in the long run, it’s only going to bring benefits.
Inari, Combat Medic of the 1st International Legion’s Infantry Battalion of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
In general, if you explain clearly to foreigners what’s going on, they accept it, but sometimes hardly anyone wants to spell things out for someone. And there are some foreigners who terminate their contracts and leave. I understand them, because they don’t understand what’s happening. But those who do understand, they stay in, they want to keep working.
Chechen, Commander of the 1st International Legion’s Infantry Battalion of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
People just need things explained clearly, and they need to be told the truth about how their service will go, what tasks they will carry out, and what responsibilities will be placed on them. If all of that is discussed up front, there are no problems.
Andrii (Did) Mishchenko, Сhief of Staff of the 475th Separate Assault Regiment, CODE 9.2
For example, when we met with Chechen, and he learned about the reorganization and joining an assault regiment, I think he still didn’t really understand where he was heading. When he found out he was coming specifically to us, to CODE 9.2, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Well, that’s really cool."
Right now, there’s this stereotype that an assault regiment is nothing but "meat," and that it’s all "oh no, oh no," something different altogether. But in reality, that’s not the case. It’s definitely a boost for the legion, because it’s development and the legions, we know them; we’ve been fighting alongside them since 2022. I and our regiment commander went out with them on missions, into the treelines, and we know the great guys we fought with who, sadly, are no longer here - Dentist, Ghost, who was killed near Bakhmut. We know them, we worked with them, and they wanted, and still want to work with us because they see a sensible attitude, because they see competent command, operational planning, and commanders who keep their word. That’s very important.
