Mamuka Mamulashvili has been fighting Russian aggression since he was 14 years old, when he spent three months in captivity alongside his father during the War in Abkhazia. For the past 10 years, he has commanded the Georgian Legion in Ukraine – the largest foreign unit in the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the Latin American formations. The legion numbers thousands of Georgian volunteers who have been fighting Russian forces long before the full-scale invasion in 2022.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Sergii Kostezh: Tell us a little bit about the Legion. Why have Georgians been fighting for Ukraine? Mamuka Mamulashvili: We’ve been here for the last 12 years – some of us for the entire 12 years. Georgia and Ukraine are countries in the same region, and we have strong historical and cultural ties. The Georgian Legion was founded by me in 2014, and Georgian fighters have been supporting Ukraine for the past 12 years. We were the first foreign volunteer unit, and in 2016 we became an official part of the Armed Forces of Ukrainian (AFU). Today we operate in different areas, mostly in eastern Ukraine. We’re doing a good job. Most of our personnel are professional soldiers. After the full-scale invasion, we had many foreign volunteers in our unit, but today the majority are ethnic Georgians, and we recruit mainly from Georgia. Of course, I understand this is confidential information, but approximately how many of your people are fighting for Ukraine?