WARSAW: Former Canadian infantry soldier Hunter Francis has no connection to Ukraine. But when he saw that Russian troops were shelling residential areas there, he flew over to join the battle.

“It wasn’t really a decision. Just something that you had to do. It’s the right thing to do,” said the 24-year-old, who is from the Eel Ground First Nation reserve in New Brunswick.

“This stuff’s not supposed to happen. There should not be a full-scale invasion of another country in the 21st century,” he said.

The criminology student’s travel plans came as a shock to his friends and family — especially to his mother. “Everyone I’ve told said I’m insane. You’ve gotta be insane to voluntarily walk into a warzone,” he said, calm and cool-headed and wearing combat fatigues.

“No one likes to do this stuff... I’m just doing what needs to be done. Someone’s gotta do it. That’s been my mentality my whole life,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky openly invited foreigners to his country to form part of an “international brigade” that would fight side by side with Ukrainians against the Russians.

Francis heeded that call after putting himself in their shoes. “They are just like us. Just normal folks. That are now drawn into a conflict and staying there to fight,” he said.

“What if Canada was attacked and everyone left Canada? We’d be all alone. Wouldn’t we want help? I know I would,” he added.

After packing his rucksack with essentials like a bullet-proof vest, hearing protection and a wilderness survival kit, Francis flew nearly 6,000 kilometres to Warsaw.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2022