According to foreign media reports such as the BBC and CNN, on March 9, local time, the British military confirmed that "a small group" of active-duty soldiers may have gone to Ukraine to fight privately, and the British military said that this behavior was in violation of discipline and law, and strongly demanded that they return home immediately.
British retired soldiers prepare to go to the front line in Lviv Source: Reuters
According to the British "Daily Telegraph" report, British Transport Minister Grant Sharps revealed in the ITV TV show on the 9th that 4 active British soldiers have left the army to fight in Ukraine without permission, and he warned in the program that these 4 people will go to court-martial, and their actions have created a "dangerous situation", because the Kremlin may mistakenly think that it is the order of the British military.
British tabloid The Sun reported that a 19-year-old active Queen's Guard soldier left the army privately over the weekend to enter Ukraine from Poland's border with Ukraine to fight. The soldier was supposed to be stationed at the barracks at Windsor Burke, guarding the Queen's castle and acting as a guard of honor. His friends said he (the 19-year-old soldier) was "fed up" wearing a bearskin hat for the honor guard parade, so he left his post without permission and bought his own ticket to Ukraine.
It is reported that the teenager wrote to his parents before buying a one-way ticket to Poland, and the reporter said that his parents were now too upset to speak.
Said to be a 19-year-old member of the Queen's Guard in active service Source: The Sun
Since the Ukrainian side released the "international team" recruitment on the 27th, a number of British people have expressed their willingness to go to Ukraine to participate in the war.
On the 6th, the British Conservative Party magazine "Spectator Weekly" reported that a former British major named Ian Cunningham was fighting in Ukraine, the 74-year-old retired veteran was the first Briton to go to Ukraine to fight, and he was also the oldest member of the current Ukrainian "international team". But because he was too old, Cunningham would not be sent to the battlefield, so he was fighting for a logistical position at the headquarters.
Cunningham and another Polish veteran Source: Bystander Weekly
On the 8th, the Guardian interviewed Ben Grant, the eldest son of Conservative MP and former government official Helen Grant, who, as a former member of the British Army, was fighting in Ukraine with 6 companions, and he said that "there are 100 companions on the way to Ukraine".
On Feb. 27, British Foreign Secretary Leeds Tras said in a televised interview that she supported Britons who might want to go to Ukraine to help the fighting.
But the British government immediately clarified its position several times. The Foreign Office advised against traveling to Ukraine, while the British Ministry of Defence said it could be illegal to go to help fight and could lead to prosecution.
British Defence Secretary James Swift stressed last week that British military personnel "have no right" to travel to Ukraine and "should report immediately to the police if there is a suspicion that the army is attempting to travel to Ukraine". British Defence Chief of Staff Tony Rodakin similarly stressed that the British should not travel to Ukraine to fight, calling it "illegal and unhelpful".