Lee Byeong-hun, a Korean who lost a limb while serving in the Ukrainian military’s foreign legion and fighting Russia, speaks to the Hankyoreh in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Feb. 7, 2025. (Jang Ye-ji/Hankyoreh)
The third anniversary of the war in Ukraine that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, is fast approaching. To mark the milestone, the Hankyoreh journeyed to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Lviv in the country’s western reaches, and Poland to get a sense of the brutal reality of the war and what will come of the conflict. Following the outbreak of the war, the Ukrainian army saw a surge in foreign volunteers. While most hailed from the West, some South Koreans also gladly signed up for the cause. We sat down with a South Korean and Korean American who sustained wounds after joining the international legion of Ukraine’s armed forces, a unit composed of foreign volunteers. The Hankyoreh’s reporter met with South Korean soldier Lee Byeong-hun, 58, at a restaurant in Kyiv and Korean American soldier Jason Ji, 21, at the Superhumans Center, a rehabilitation center in Lviv, to listen to their first-hand accounts of the ruthless battlefields. Both Lee and Ji were injured in July 2024 while carrying out separate operations. While both managed to return from the battlefield alive, they each lost a limb during their tour of combat; Lee lost his left arm while Ji underwent below-the-knee amputation. Lee, who enlisted in the international legion at the Polish border in July 2023, trained for around a month before being sent to the front. Lee and 14 other foreign nationals were attached to the 204th TDF Battalion, joining forces during the gruesome battles in Bakhmut and Kostiantynivka, areas in the eastern region of Donetsk.
