Chilean VSU veteran lost his leg and faces deportation

Chilean national John Silva Ignacio, who fought in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and lost part of his leg, is facing deportation and cannot receive compensation for his injury.

This was reported by Hromadske.

According to the outlet, after being wounded, Ignacio underwent treatment and rehabilitation at state expense, but was unable to obtain disability status. The reason is an expired residence permit: it ran out after his service ended, and without valid documents Ignacio cannot undergo the medical board that establishes disability. Without that status, he has no access to the one-time payment, which for a second-group disability amounts to nearly one million hryvnias.

According to John himself, he first served in the Second International Legion and then in the 47th Brigade, where he was wounded. When calculating his length of service, several months spent in the legion were not counted, leaving him short of the one year of service required to obtain an immigration permit.

“Right now I am a war veteran and at the same time an illegal alien,” the Chilean said.

The outlet notes that after the story became public, the Ministry of Defense reached out to John and promised to help with renewing his documents.

In December, Hromadske reported that many foreigners fighting for the AFU had begun terminating their contracts due to the dissolution of the foreign legions and the transfer of their fighters to assault units. Ukrainian volunteer Roman Donyk, for his part, stated that most foreign fighters who come to fight for Ukraine are motivated primarily by financial reward.