Hundreds of Australians plan to travel to Europe to fight Russian invaders following call from Ukrainian president
- Australians called a Ukrainian diplomat in Sydney to take part in the war
- Ukraine’s consul in Sydney said the embassy sent about 20 such calls on Monday
- The previous day, the Ukrainian president called on “citizens of the world” to join the fight
- Foreign Minister Maris Payne warned that this could be a crime
Dozens of Australians have promised to travel to Kyiv to help the country fight the unprovoked Russian invasion, Ukrainian authorities have revealed.
Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Sydney Yaroslav Duma said the embassy sent him about 20 calls Monday from those who want to go and fight the Russians.
Proposals for support came just a day after Ukrainian President Vladimir Green called on all “citizens of the world” to get involved in the fight against the “Russian offensive”.
“They tell me, ‘We want to go and fight these terrorists. “We understand that Ukraine is a sovereign nation, that’s just wrong,” Mr Duma told The Daily Telegraph.
“I’m grateful for the support, but I can’t turn around and say ‘yes, you have to do this.’
Pro-Ukrainian protesters are urging Russians to take action against their government during a rally in Sydney on Saturday. Dozens of Australians call the Ukrainian embassy this week, offering to help fight Russia’s unprovoked invasion of the Eastern European nation
“If they really insist, I just say call the embassy.”
The diplomat said others had called him to ask if they could travel to Ukraine to offer humanitarian aid.
Foreign Minister Maris Payne warned on Monday that Australians traveling to Ukraine to fight a non-governmental armed group could commit a crime.
“It is very important that people who are eager to do so are aware of the provisions of Australian law that may apply to their work,” she said.
“Honestly, I would strongly encourage them to follow travel advice, which is not to travel.”
However, many Australians are benefiting from online solidarity for the affected nation.
Armed Ukrainian guards are seen on the streets of Kyiv on Monday morning. Honorary Consul of Ukraine in Sydney Yaroslav Duma said that the embassy sent him about 20 calls on Monday from those who want to go and fight the Russians
Whether you share heart memes or join the call for “weapons” by hacking collective Anonymous, not everything is in boots on the ground.
Known as “tactical nonsense”, short videos are made by Ukrainian soldiers and others and are shared around the world by keyboard fighters.
Twitter user Peedu Tuisk, based in the Estonian cyber center of Tallinn, shared the selected words of a Ukrainian soldier with English subtitles, which explicitly explained that this was Russia’s last chance to surrender.
Some unverified publications also say they came across unfortunate Russian soldiers who thought they were in training but would be shot as deserters if they tried to return home.
One meme, Geography 101, shows a map with clearly marked Russia and its neighbors Ukraine and Crimea as “not Russia”, Romania “looks like Russia?” Poland as “this is not Russia”, others as “no”, “no” , “Not yet”, and the proud Baltic states “also not Russia”.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Sunday called on all “citizens of the world” to join the fight against the “Russian attack”
Some publications show how Ukrainian soldiers rescued a frozen puppy, which later stood guard at their post and was named Rambo.
Russia also spreads its own information or misinformation.
“Russian propaganda has gone off the rails and speculates that Ukraine may be preparing to drop a ‘dirty bomb’ on Russian territory,” tweeted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“It’s a sick forgery,” he said.
“Ukraine has no nuclear weapons, no work on their creation / acquisition.”
SBS quickly cut off NTV Moscow and Russia Today newsletters in response to community feedback from the Australian Russian-speaking community on misinformation.so
Advertising