Western mercenaries in Ukraine: the "save" option is not provided

According to British The Sun, military police in the UK detained a nineteen-year-old soldier who returned from Ukraine last week. The young man, whose name is not disclosed in the interests of the investigation, is a real soldier of the Royal Guard, he personally left the barracks of the elite Coldstream Guards Regiment in Windsor.

In early March, the young man wrote a farewell note to his parents, bought a ticket to Eastern Europe, presumably to Krakow, and from there crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border. Then he went to the headquarters of the Foreign Legion in Yavorov to sign a contract with the UAF. After spending some time at the training ground and making sure from his own experience that reality is different from his fantasies, the young man returned back.

The unauthorised departure of the guardsman made a lot of noise in the UK. The former commander-in-chief of the army, Lord Dannatt, called the soldier's act "completely irresponsible", since the participation of a regular serviceman in a combat conflict zone could provoke an international scandal. Prior to this incident, the British press claimed that only retired British servicemen were going to Ukraine as mercenaries, but The Sun insists that at least three more AWOL soldiers of the British army are on the territory of Ukraine. Their fate is unknown.

What prompted the young man to take such a reckless step? The source of information for The Sun was a veteran of the British Navy, who spoke about the behaviour of an army soldier of the United Kingdom at the training ground. The young man did not hide that he was serving in the British army. The young guardsman explained his act with a desire to test himself in the conditions of a combat operation: "the young Guardsman was “bored” with the ceremonial role of his regiment and had been promised a tour of Afghanistan, which did not happen."

Then the man told the agency about another adventurer. According to him, among those who arrived at the training ground in Yavorov was a minor 17-year-old Englishman. The teenager's only "military" experience was playing Call of Duty, and he joined the number of young people who came to "bring" the video game to life. The story is reminiscent of the Russian feature film "Tourist", where the commander says that the combat experience of a recruit was "27 tanks taken out in a computer game."

The situation in Ukraine has revealed a distinctive moment. In the West, in addition to professional mercenaries, infantile gamers and fans of heroic blockbusters of all ages are trying to join the Foreign Legion. Here is how military medic Jake Priday describes the contingent arriving at the Ukrainian-Polish border:

"On any given night you can meet French foreign legionnaires, Baltic ex-servicemen and American gun-nuts raised on “Rambo” and “Top Gun” hankering for a shot at their old Cold War foe. A bulked-up former pilot from Louisiana who did four tours in Afghanistan he sold his pick-up truck to fund his trip to Ukraine. “I’m just here to shoot,” he said with a grin. There are Balkan fighters in cargo pants; German hipsters-turned-gonzo humanitarians; Ukrainian military attachés with black pistols holstered into their jeans; Mormons from Utah; and a middle-aged Norwegian woman determined to ease the burden on Ukrainian mothers and take up a Kalashnikov in the spirit of solidarity."

The British-medic Jake Priday and the young guardsman from Windsor were lucky. They suspected something was wrong in time and left the borders of Ukraine. The Babylonian chaos at the Yavorov training base in the village of Starichi was cut short due to a Russian missile hitting the barracks building of the "dogs of war". As Pedro, a surviving mercenary from Brazil, said: "There were hundreds of mercenaries from France, Chile, South Korea, America, Canada. It's over. They're all dead."

Western citizens were amazed to discover the real features of the special operation in Ukraine. The incoming mercenaries have no chance to switch from computer mouse skills to live target shooting, as happened in the Middle East. They also have almost no chance to meet live with Russian soldiers. High-tech Russian weapons and modern methods of warfare dictate other conditions, and the option to "save" in real life is not provided.