The Safety of Our Brave Citizens Volunteering in Ukraine Words cannot express my admiration for our men and women (Canadian and American) who are now in Ukraine volunteering their services to help protect the Ukrainian people. I worry, though, for their safety. I worry about them being seriously injured or killed. I worry about them suffering or even dying as a result of having no way to keep themselves warm enough in sub-zero temperatures when there is no gas or electricity available. I worry about them when all water has been cut off. I worry about them when there is nothing to eat. I worry about so many things….
I worry about them being shot, blown up, hit by cluster bombs, attacked with thermobaric weapons, becoming victim to poison gas and biological or chemical weapons… and so much else.
And if they are captured by the enemy - what then? We know about the horrible methods of interrogation and outright tortue. The KGB trained psychopath Puting has made all sorts of threats against any foreigner who is caught fighting with the Ukrainians. And we know this feral creature is capable of anything.
Unfortunately both NATO and its individual members have warned that they will be unable to go in and rescue these unfortunate souls. And we know the sociopath Putin is devoid of any of the basic human qualities of compassion, remorse, self-reflection or generosity - and as such he will hardly be amenable to freeing his captured victims. Nothing but retribution will be informing his rodent-like thinking at that time.
It is likely, though, that our volunteers who have gone to Ukraine would fall under the protections of the Geneva Convention. Given Putin’s lawless behavior in the past however it is on open question as to what if any protections he would afford these prisoners of war.
“This is not the first time that Russia threatens to or mistreats POWs: in the first phase of the armed conflict, it has prosecuted Ukraine’s military pilot Nadiya Savchenko and the 24 Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia in November 2018, among others. All were subsequently released to Ukraine in a POW exchange. The tactic is obvious: it aims to deter foreigners who would be faced with the prospect of Russian prison from traveling to Ukraine.
But the prospect of penal prosecution in Russia, or the sending state which might prohibit individuals from joining foreign armed forces (one example is Belarus), has so far not deterred foreigners from coming in troves to defend democracy in Ukraine.”
https://www.ejiltalk.org/mercenary-or-combatant-ukraines-international-legion-of-territorial-defense-under-international-humanitarian-law/
Yes, Foreign Fighters in Ukraine are Covered Under the Geneva Conventions as “Combatants”
https://jonathanturley.org/2022/03/06/yes-foreign-fighters-in-ukraine-are-covered-under-the-geneva-conventions-as-combatants/