More than 200 people in the Netherlands have contacted the Ukrainian embassy in The Hague about joining the fighting since the Russian invasion began last week.

Honorary consul Karel Burger Dirven told Nieuwsuur that the potential volunteers included dozens of Dutch citizens, as well as larger numbers of Ukrainian and Polish nationals living in the Netherlands.

‘We’ve received e-mail after e-mail,’ he said. ‘Dutch people feel a connection and that’s heartwarming to see.’

On Sunday Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the army was setting up a foreign legion and called for ‘all citizens of the world’ to fight for ‘peace and democracy.’

One Dutch 26-year-old student told NPO Radio 1 that he was considering signing up after following the news of the invasion.

‘A criminal invasion where civilian targets are coming under fire shouldn’t be happening in this day and age,’ he said. ‘I don’t think anybody expected Putin to invade the whole of Ukraine.

‘I realise it’s a big deal to go to Ukraine and potentially pay for it with my life. I think about it a lot, but it’s serious.’

Criminal charges

Some military experts have warned that civilians who fight as volunteers in a foreign war could face charges when they return home. ‘If they go to fight, they are committing a crime,’ former commander of the armed forced Mart de Kruif told NOS.

Dutch nationals who went to join the civil war in Syria have been convicted and imprisoned, but they faced charges such as being members of terrorist organisations that would not apply to the conflict in Ukraine.

The ministry of defence told NRC that joining a foreign army was not ‘forbidden in principle’, as long as people did not fight against Dutch forces or their allies.

The law criminalising membership of a ‘foreign fighting force’ was changed in 1984 to restrict the offence of joining the armed forces of ‘a state that is involved in fighting against the Kingdom or a partnership that the Kingdom is a member of.’

Military historian Chris Klep said it was unlikely that the justice ministry would bring cases against people who fought on the side of the Ukrainians. ‘In this situation, with all the sympathy the Ukrainian regime enjoys, I think they would turn a blind eye.’

But defence minister Kajsa Ollongren has cautioned Dutch nationals against volunteering to fight in Ukraine. ‘It’s extremely dangerous,’ she said.