There are less than twenty. The Italians currently fighting in Ukraine they are equally divided on both fronts. But since 2014, according to an estimate of Francesco Marone, ISPI researcher, about 50-60 of our countrymen have taken up the rifle for Kiev or Moscow. They are mostly far-right: 50 to 80%. Some have been pushed to enlist to earn some money (not many actually). Others, however, did so out of political ideals. They are almost all males, coming from medium or low level socio-economic backgrounds and without accompanying family members.
All spi (n) and in Zelensky’s side
The pilot
Giulia Jasmine Schiff, Venetian pilot expelled by the Air Force, he is certainly the best known face of this small handful. The 23-year-old has decided to support the Ukrainian resistance and is the only woman to be part of the International Legion created by President Volodymyr Zelensky a few days after the Russian invasion began. She was a former student of the Academy of Pozzuoli, she Schiff had reported several times that she had been a victim of bullying and hazing. Some non-commissioned officers of the Air Force are facing a trial for multiple aggravated injuries in competition and insult. The pilot has always maintained that it was for that criminal complaint that her expulsion from the Air Force was triggered, officially motivated by “military and professional ineptitude”. On her Instagram profile, when she succeeds, she posts updates on the situation in Ukraine. She also told her Hyenas that she was on a mission: “The Russian artillery started bombarding us and we had to leave the vehicles. Then we had to cross the line of fire on foot”.
The ultra
The pro-Russians, on the other hand, can count on the ‘Generalissimo’. Andrea Palmeri, 42, before joining the Donbass in 2014 was leader of the Bulldogs, the ultras group that reigns supreme in Lucca, one of the blackest curves in Italy. He now lives permanently in Luhansk. Accused of violence and intimidation, he has been sentenced several times. The Generalissimo, as he is nicknamed, has never hesitated to take radical positions, without however explicitly showing off neo-fascist attitudes. He has always denied being a mercenary and a trainer, claiming to be a volunteer working alongside the Russians to help civilians. “The war, in addition to poor Christs, will be suffered by the Europeans who – he said in one of his last speeches – have given up having a say in the matter, being subservient to the American masters”.
Stan and the reporter
Francesco Saverio Fontana, nickname ‘Stan’ and linked to CasaPound, before returning to Italy, he was instead part of the infamous Azov Battalion, a paramilitary formation with neo-Nazi roots. Vittorio Nicola Rangeloni, on the other hand, is currently active on the front on the side of the Russians. He is not a soldier, despite the numerous photos in camouflage, but on his Facebook profile he tells the war from the point of view of the Federation. 46-year-old Edy Ongaro, nickname Bozambo, had also chosen to side with Putin. The former member of the Northeast Red Star Collective lost his life Wednesday after being hit by a Ukrainian hand grenade.
The contractor
Antonio Cataldo, 38, a former worker from Nola, was captured in Libya in the summer of 2011 by Gaddafi’s security forces. Freed by the militiamen, in February 2015 he reached the Donbass to join the pro-Russian. The contractor most likely did so solely for economic reasons. Giuseppe Donini, 52, originally from Casola Valsenio, in the province of Ravenna, could also be at the front. In 2016 he left for Donbass to take the side of Ukraine and it is not excluded that he is still there.
The yellow on the Ukrainian attack on Russia. Cold Moscow, Kiev denies