A few hundred Canadians are organizing these days to take up arms and go to defend Ukraine.
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In an interview with CTV’s “W5” program, the leader of the Canadian-Ukrainian Brigade – who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals for his family in Ukraine – explained that he had already recruited “at least 600 people” ready to go to fight.
It must be said that the call of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who wants the formation of a foreign legion to fight alongside Ukrainian troops, particularly resonated in Canada, where there is one of the largest Ukrainian diasporas in world with approximately 1.4 million descendants of this country.
Among them is Maksym Sliepukhov, a Ukraine-born Toronto warehouse logistics manager who these days shops for body armor for himself and mates who plan to go defend their home country.
“When something like this happens at our house, practically outside our door, all Ukrainians will do what we do. Finding a way to help, to come home, to win this war,” Sliepukhov told CTV.
Earlier this week, the federal government warned Canadians who would be tempted to fight in Ukraine by inviting them to join the Canadian army instead. On the other hand, the Trudeau government did not formally prohibit potential volunteers from going to war.