Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will clarify the legal position on British citizens who (a) have travelled or (b) plan to travel to Ukraine to fight against Russian armed forces.

We advise against all travel to Ukraine.

Depending on the planned activity and the circumstances, travel to engage in overseas conflict could give rise to offences under UK law, including terrorism and war crimes. There are also laws preventing British subjects in certain circumstances engaging in military service for a foreign state under Foreign Enlistment Act 1870. Cases would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The UK possesses a range of tools to disrupt and investigate outbound travel where there is a national security case for doing so. This includes our Schedule 7 powers under the Terrorism Act 2000, which enables counter-terrorism police to stop, question and when necessary, detain and search a person travelling through a UK port to determine whether that person is or has been involved in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.