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- An official from the Ukrainian Embassy in Nigeria said in an interview with local media that if Nigerian people sign up for Volunteer Army , they may have to pay about US$1,000 in travel fees. This amount was calculated based on his personal experience. Due to the closure of Ukrainian airspace, foreign volunteers need to enter from the Schengen area countries adjacent to Ukraine, so they may need to pay the Schengen visa fee, but the volunteers do not need the Ukrainian visa .
incident background
Recently, a short video circulated on Douyin, saying that "Nigerians were excited to help Ukraine fight, but the Ukrainian Embassy refused to pay for the travel expenses." The video copy reads: Nigerians want to go to Ukraine to join the war and were asked to pay $1,000 in air tickets and visa fees first. Ukraine also cut their salary by more than half.
"The Ukrainian Embassy said that Ukraine is not recruiting mercenaries . I hope Nigerian volunteers don't focus on money."
Mingcha
Search for the keyword "Nigerian volunteers fight for Ukraine" in Google , and found that relevant reports quoted an article published by the local media The Pulse website on March 4, titled "Russian Invasion: Ukraine Tells Nigerians to Fight 1,000 USD to Fight for Ukraine".
According to this report, the statement of "$1,000 travel expenses" comes from Bohdan Soltys, the second secretary of the Ukrainian Embassy in Nigeria. Log in to the official website of the Ukrainian Embassy in Nigeria to view the employee list. The second secretary is called "Soltis Bogdan Mikhailovich" - although it is subtle and different from the names in the report, it is generally similar.
In addition, a signing person named "Monday Adikwu" said in an interview that the Ukrainian Embassy originally promised to pay US$7,000 per month to the volunteer army, but later changed the statement to US$3,300.
htmlOn March 5, The Punch released an interview clip on YouTube. In the interview, Mikhailovich said that since Ukrainian airspace has been closed and it is impossible to enter Ukraine directly from Nigeria by plane, the volunteer army must enter through two Ukrainian neighbors, , Poland and Hungary, and Poland and Hungary, both belong to the Schengen area, so the Nigerian volunteer army needs to apply for a Schengen visa. When asked why the specific value of "1,000 US dollars" was the case, Mikhailovic said that it was because the last time he returned to Ukraine, he spent about this amount of travel expenses."Only the volunteer army can choose to fight for Ukraine or other countries, because if Ukraine pays these people (money), they will become mercenaries , and using mercenaries is a violation of international law ."
Check the official Facebook account of the Ukrainian Embassy in Nigeria. It can be seen that on March 5, the Ukrainian Embassy issued an announcement to encourage foreign citizens to join the "volunteer army" to participate in the war. This announcement provides specific registration channels and promises: "The volunteer army of the International Column will be fully supported and does not require a Ukrainian visa." This detail can be confirmed by what Mikhailovich said in the interview that part of the travel fee is used to apply for the EU Schengen visa.
"Pengpai Mingcha" search found that on March 7 local time, the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a tweet. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria asked the Ukrainian Embassy for confirmation about Nigerian citizens' application to join the Ukrainian mercenary. The Ukrainian Embassy refuted the rumor that "the Nigerian Volunteers are required to pay US$1,000 for air tickets and visa fees."
In addition, the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated in a statement that "the recruitment of Nigerians as mercenaries in Nigeria will not tolerate fighting in Ukraine and anywhere in the world."
In summary, an official from the Ukrainian Embassy in Nigeria once said in an interview with local media that if Nigerians sign up to participate in the anti-Russian volunteer army, they may have to pay about US$1,000 in travel fees. This amount was calculated based on his personal experience. Due to Ukrainian airspace closure, foreign volunteers need to enter from the Schengen region countries adjacent to Ukraine, so they may need to pay for the Schengen visa, but the volunteers do not require a Ukrainian visa.In addition, the statement that "the Ukrainian Embassy demanded $1,000 from the volunteer army" has been denied by the Ukrainian Embassy in Nigeria. In other words, there is no tangible evidence to support Mikhailovic's statement on behalf of the Ukrainian Embassy with an official position.
Editor in charge: Wang Liang
Proofreading: Zhang Yan
