This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on Telegram broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that all operators of foreign weapons, such as the Challenger 2 tanks or the AS90 artillery mount, are “foreign mercenaries”. They say that Western countries do not trust Ukrainians and entrust their equipment on the battlefield only to foreigners. The authors of the reports note that the Ukrainian army is only engaged in “protecting equipment” and in some cases, according to them, “foreigners allow Ukrainians to steer”.

Such a thesis is unfounded, because the Ukrainian military use foreign weapons on their own. For example, recently a group of Ukrainian military arrived in the UK to train to use the AS90 self-propelled artillery mount. Earlier, the British government announced that it would transfer Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine for use. This indicates that the Ukrainian army and Ukrainians in particular are entrusted with the use of weapons. This is not the only case when the Ukrainian army is sent for training and taught to use foreign weapons.

As for the so-called “foreign mercenaries”, Russian propaganda replaces the concept and calls the foreign legion mercenaries. The Foreign Legion is legally part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the exact number of its members is not reported, like all other fighters. In theory, both the Ukrainian military and members of the foreign legion can use weapons. The ban does not apply to Ukrainians or the foreign legion, since they are all part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Accordingly, foreign countries, sending their weapons for use to Ukraine, give the Armed Forces of Ukraine the right to operate them.

Russian propaganda has repeatedly spread manipulations about so-called foreign mercenaries in Ukraine. The propagandists claimed that the military from the EU countries fought on the territory of Ukraine even before the full-scale invasion, or the number of foreigners in the Ukrainian army would soon exceed 50%. Thus, propaganda wants to create an appearance that is actually at war not with Ukraine, but with the so-called collective West.