[우크라 침공] Brazil also supports hundreds of Ukrainian volunteers… government discouraged

Hundreds of Brazilians are applying for volunteers to help Ukraine, AFP reported on the 27th (local time), despite the Brazilian government’s neutral stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian government, about 20,000 foreigners applied for the ‘Ukrainian Territory Defense International Unit’, a volunteer force from 50 countries around the world. After signing the contract, they will receive 3,000 dollars (about 3.63 million won), which is the monthly wage of a private soldier, and fight until the end of the war.

AFP said that in addition to the official website for recruiting soldiers from this unit, hundreds of Brazilians have joined Facebook groups that exchange information among volunteers.

An official from the Ukrainian consulate in São Paulo, Brazil, said that there is no support from the Ukrainian government to those who are willing to help, and the Brazilian government is preventing its citizens from participating in the war for safety concerns.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said earlier this month on social media that “Brazil has close economic ties with Russia and Ukraine, so it will remain neutral.”

However, a Brazilian applicant in his 30s said in an interview with AFP that he had quit his former military service to join the voluntary army.

He bought a one-way ticket to Poland at his own expense and headed to Ukraine, about 11,000 km away, on the 23rd, and plans to participate in the war with the help of other Brazilians living in Poland.

He said he wanted to help Ukrainians suffering from Russia’s unjust invasion, and said he wanted to “help prevent the outbreak of World War III.”

Another Brazilian, who is already working as a volunteer in the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kiev (Kyiv), conducting patrol and rescue operations for civilians, said he would “protect Ukraine until the end.”

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