Donetsk Peoples Republic Leader Denys Pushilin has approved one year contract terms for foreign volunteers in the DPR Militias. The document , released on June 3rd outlines that foreign fighters may volunteer and or be conscripted for a period of up to one year. These foreigners are designated to be eligible to serve in the Internal Troops (VV) of the Interior Ministry which is more of a security wing than a front line combat unit.

“The State Defense Committee of the DPR provided an opportunity for foreign citizens to sign contracts for military service in the troops of the Interior Ministry. The relevant resolution, No. 114, of the SDC was published on Monday evening on the website of the head of the republic, Denis Pushilin,” the Donetsk News Agency said.

This policy change is indicative of the frightful losses sustained by DPR forces after Mariupol and further combat in Northeast Donetsk Oblast. The Mariupol-Khingan Naval Infantry, Somalia Battalion, Sparta Battalion, and Vostok Battalion probably sustained more than 2,500 casualties at Mariupol, and the 1st Army Corps of the DPR has probably lost up to 40% of its initial strength estimated at 30,000 troops when the invasion began.

This announcement flies in the face of the execution sentence ordered against two U.K. nationals and a Moroccan national captured in Mariupol by Russian Ground Forces, who were sentenced so harshly due to their foreign lineage.