Ukraine s New Foreign Legion Takes the Fight to Russian Forces – WSJ

LVIV, Ukraine Irakli Okruashvili, a former defense minister of Georgia, last week joined a Ukrainian foreign-fighter regiment created to face down the Russian invasion in a hurry. Three days later, he and a group of countrymen, former special-forces soldiers, made contact with Russian troops north of Kyiv.

With a U.S.-supplied .50-caliber Barrett M99 single-shot anti-armor precision rifle, the Georgian unit disabled two Russian armed vehicles, Mr. Okruashvili said, before falling under a sustained reply from 152-millimeter howitzer cannons.

After several hours, Ukrainian planes bombed the Russian artillery positions, silencing them.

A combination of international arms and foreign volunteers has joined Ukraine s efforts to impede the Russian advance in the third week of the conflict, and are now playing a growing role as the fighting spreads.

We already passed this way in 2008 when we had a war with Russia, Mr. Okruashvili said, referring to Moscow s invasion of Georgia that year. Ukraine is not fighting only for its own freedom, its own sovereignty, its own independence. This is not the war of Ukraine only.

via www.wsj.com