The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is releasing its latest report A Year Of
Foreign Fighting For Ukraine, authored by CEP non-resident fellow and fellow at
the University of Oslo’s Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX), Dr. Kacper
Rekawek. It is the third in a series of CEP reports analyzing the evolution of
foreign fighters in Ukraine and is based on more than 70 interviews and
intensive research conducted throughout 2022.





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CEP Report: A Year Of Foreign Fighting For Ukraine



(New York, N.Y.) —The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is releasing its latest
reportA Year Of Foreign Fighting For Ukraine
<[link removed]>,
authored by CEP non-resident fellow and fellow at the University of Oslo’s
Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX),Dr. Kacper Rekawek
<[link removed]>. It is the third
in a series of CEP reports analyzing the evolution of foreign fighters in
Ukraine and is based on more than 70 interviews and intensive research
conducted throughout 2022.



The report challenges misconceptions about the size and composition of foreign
fighters, estimating that perhaps 2,000 foreign fighters have fought in
Ukraine, far less than the often mentioned figure of 20,000, and that only
small group of far-right individuals are amongst the foreign fighters active in
Ukraine. These individuals are vastly outnumbered by the much larger body of
“concerned citizens of the world” hailing predominately from Belarus, Georgia,
English-speaking Western nations, Europe, Brazil, Latin American, and East Asia.



Foreign fighters, the report finds, also regularly rotate back home for rest
and recovery and subsequently return to Ukraine—a practice that aligns with
Ukrainian flexibility and improvisation that have become hallmarks of their way
of conducting war. Unfortunately, governments are ill-prepared to support
individuals returning from service as a volunteer with the Ukrainian armed
forces. The report recommends a de-securitized approach to non-extremists that
prioritizes mental health, consistent communication between the returnee and
government authorities via third parties, and potential protection from Russian
retaliation for fighters with a public role and profile.



CEP Non-Resident Fellow Dr. Kacper Rekawek said:



“The Russo-Ukrainian war tests existing models of how European or Western
governments address the issue of their citizens fighting in foreign wars.
Currently, most systems are geared towards dealing with individuals who joined
proscribed terrorist entities in foreign countries. As this report details, the
foreign volunteers and foreign fighters in Ukraine are very different, and thus
require a very different approach to effectively manage their return home.”



To read CEP’s report A Year Of Foreign Fighting For Ukraine, please click here
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