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Britons signing up to fight alongside Ukrainians say they are doing it out of “solidarity” and because “it’s the right thing to do”.
A steady stream of people, some with military experience and others who have never seen action, arrived at the Ukrainian embassy in west London on Tuesday to volunteer to fight against Russia.
Roger Conway, from Newcastle, immediately sent his information to an email address on a piece of paper handed to him at the embassy gate.
He has no army or conflict experience but is keen to help.
“I’ve never been in but I’ve not got kids, I’m 34, feel fit,” he said.
“We’ve convinced ourselves that we’re stepping in and we’re helping by having Facebook photos and tweeting solidarity, but it doesn’t really make a difference to anyone.
“Solidarity doesn’t look real if you don’t do anything.”
He has “absolutely no idea” where he could be sent and assumes he will receive training from the Ukrainian military.
Mr Conway, a finance contractor, said he does not need to inform anyone at work about his decision to go, and he is not really in touch with his parents.
Asked if he is scared, he said: “Possibly a little but that’s no reason not to do anything in life. I’m ready, I think.”
While he does not know any Ukrainians well, he said he has the impression they are “nice people” after spending six weeks travelling around the country in 2018, visiting Kiev, Kharkiv and Odessa.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced the formation of an “international legion” to help defend his country and appealed to foreign volunteers to come forward, promising them arms to fight against Russian troops.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she would “absolutely” support British citizens chose to go to help fight against the Russian invasion, though several of her Cabinet colleagues and Downing Street officials later effectively contradicted her, discouraging people from going.
Mr Conway described it as a “bit cowardly” of her not to send UK troops while “egging on possibly untrained civilians”, though he said he is not “doing it for Liz Truss”.
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A monitor displays a projectile striking the regional state administration building in Kharkiv, as the Russian invasion continues. Reuters -
People help a wounded woman in the aftermath of Russian shelling in Kharkiv. EPA -
Ukrainian emergency service personnel carry the body of a victim following shelling in Kharkiv. AP -
Students who fled the conflict rest in a refugee camp in Voluntari, Romania. AP -
Members of an Ukrainian civil defence unit pass new assault rifles to the opposite side of a blown-up bridge on Kiev’s northern front. AFP -
Civilians cross a river on Kiev's northern front. AFP -
A woman takes photos of a destroyed accommodation building near a checkpoint in Brovary, outside Kiev. AP -
The city hall of Kharkiv, damaged by Russian shelling. AFP -
Debris litters the square outside the damaged Kharkiv city hall. AFP -
A Ukrainian woman sleeps on the floor of the railway station in Zahonyi close to the Hungary/Ukraine border. AFP -
A medical worker attends to wounded man at a hospital in Brovary, outside Kiev. AP -
Refugees from Ukraine in a tent at the Medyka border crossing, Poland. AP -
Debris outside the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile, in Kharkiv. Reuters -
A student evacuated from Ukraine is embraced by her family after arriving at Tunis-Carthage International Airport in Tunisia. AFP -
Rescuers in a building damaged by a missile in central Kharkiv. Reuters -
An ambulance is visible through the damaged window of a vehicle hit by bullets in Kiev, Ukraine. Reuters -
Territorial defence members prepare to head out on patrol in Kiev. EPA -
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech on screen during the opening of the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. AP -
A policeman detains a young demonstrator during a protest against Russia's attack on Ukraine in St Petersburg, Russia. AP -
Local residents in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, prepare Molotov cocktails. Reuters -
Residents clean a bomb shelter under an out-of-service cinema in central Zhytomyr. Reuters -
Ukrainian volunteers tear cloth into strips to make camouflage nets in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP -
Part of the military convoy north-west of Invankiv, Ukraine. AP -
Mark Goncharuk, a young boy from Kiev, leaves his father behind as he travels with the rest of his family towards the border. Reuters -
People hold an anti-war protest outside the Russian Embassy in Mexico City, Mexico. Reuters -
A crater caused by shelling on the outskirts of Kiev. AFP -
People queue outside a grocery store in the Ukrainian capital. EPA -
Ukrainian soldiers stand at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square, in Kiev. EPA -
Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, second left, and Davyd Arakhamia, faction leader of the Servant of the People party in the Ukrainian Parliament, third right, attend the peace talks in the Gomel region of Belarus. AP -
People who have fled the Russian invasion in Ukraine, clamour to board a bus bound for a refugee centre established in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Hanna Pavlovna Lukasz, from Mirhord, Ukraine, said her sons, aged 12 and 8, and her 66-year-old mother had been waiting on the Ukrainian side of the border crossing with Medyka, Poland, for four days. AP -
A volunteer from Kiev prepares a rear post with trenches in the city. AFP -
A child being treated for cancer rests in the bomb shelter of the oncology ward at a hospital in Kiev. Getty -
Police officers check occupants of a suspicious car in Kiev, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues. Reuters -
A woman from Ukraine uses a phone to listen to a speech by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a refugee shelter in Beregsurany, Hungary. Reuters -
Shelves empty of bread after a curfew was lifted as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kiev. Reuters -
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, left, and President Zelenskyy. AFP -
Snow-covered shoes donated for those fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
People who have fled Ukraine wait for a bus to transport them away from the border crossing in Medyka. Reuters -
Norwegian soldiers of the Nato-enhanced forward presence battalion pose at a military plane as they arrive at an airport in Kaunas, Lithuania. AP -
A person fleeing Ukraine sits during snowfall at a temporary camp in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Footage reportedly of Russian Buk missile system vehicles on a road before a drone strike near Malyn, Ukraine. Reuters -
An explosion after what are said to be Russian Buk missile system vehicles on a road are struck by a drone. Reuters -
The monument to Russian troops from the Second World War, after the figures’ hands were painted red, at the Red Army memorial in Sofia, Bulgaria. EPA -
The Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, is lit up with the colours of Ukraine’s national flag in a show of support. AP -
Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the construction site of the National Space Agency on the premises of the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Centre, in Moscow. EPA -
A man looks out from a train, at the railway station in Lviv, Ukraine. The UN has estimated the conflict could produce as many as four million refugees. AP -
A Ukrainian boy waits for his mother after passing the border crossing point in Siret, northern Romania. EPA -
Russian policemen detain a demonstrator in St Petersburg, during a protest against the country's military actions in Ukraine. EPA -
Ukrainian soldiers at a check point in the city of Zhytomyr. Reuters -
Residents prepare petrol bombs to defend the city, in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Reuters -
A pro-Russian fighter sits inside a tank in the separatist self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, in the Luhansk region, Ukraine. Reuters -
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, speaks to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, second left, and Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and First Deputy Defence Minister Valery Gerasimov, left, during their meeting in Moscow. AP -
Ukrainians and supporters gather during a demonstration in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens against the Russian military's operation in Ukraine. AFP -
Ukrainian Territorial Defence fighters test an automatic grenade launcher taken from a destroyed Russian infantry mobility vehicla after a battle in Kharkiv. AFP
Liam Hawkins, 30, drove to the Ukrainian embassy from Deptford, south-east London, to sign up to help refugees stuck at the border in a humanitarian capacity.
“I haven’t slept since this invasion and I just can’t stay at home with my babies and my missus and do nothing,” he said.
“Right is right and wrong is wrong, regardless of nationality or creed or whatever.
“I’ve got a good life here in England, I’ve got a good job, I make plenty of money.
“Sit there and count your money when this is going on next door? Doesn’t mean nothing, so I’m going to do the right thing.
“I know it’s dangerous. People are trying to talk me out of it, but I believe I can make a difference.”
Two former soldiers, Tom, 20, and Lukas, 21, who declined to give their last names, said they were “definitely not” worried about travelling to Ukraine to fight.
Tom, who served in the Royal Tank Regiment for three-and-a-half years, said: “When I get there, the training we’ve had will kick in.
“If I fall, I fall. At least I know that I’ve fallen for doing something right.”
The duo, who plan to take their own military equipment and medical supplies, said they have not told their families and will simply leave a note when they go.
“Whether my family thinks it’s a good idea or not, it doesn’t matter.
“The world’s bigger than just the UK and I know what’s right and wrong,” Tom said.
Lukas, who travelled to London from near Manchester to sign up at the embassy, said he joined the Army at 16 but had no conflict experience.
He said he wanted to go and help.
“That’s what people seem not to understand about soldiers. They say ‘Yeah they want to go out and fight’. Technically we want to go out and help.”
Oliver Miller, 29, a mechanical engineering student from Chelmsford, Essex, who also had military experience, said he is “hoping to go out and help somehow”.
“Obviously, the conflict in Ukraine has been going on for a while, conflict with Russia dabbling in stuff they shouldn’t has been going on for even longer.
“I don’t want to sound cliched and cheesy, but sometimes it’s something you feel like you have to do.
“And, quite frankly, I kicked myself over not doing anything about Donbas, and I know I’ll kick myself if I don’t do anything about this.”
He said he has not told his “very supportive” family and girlfriend.
“Not sure how supportive they’ll be of this decision. We shall see.”
Thomas, who did not want to give his full name, said he wanted to support the close friends he made while living in Ukraine for 17 months.
He spent time in various cities, including Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Mariupol, teaching and working as a techno DJ.
“I feel like I should be doing something because I’m not there with them and I should be, and I’m just trying to work out what I can do.”
Asked if he would fight, he said he did not have any training.
“I barely know how to use a gun.
“If that helps them I will, but if I can do something which is more towards aid or in some format, then I can do whatever role that I’m suited to.”
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Helena, right, and her brother Bodia, from Lviv, wait at the Medyka border crossing in eastern Poland. AFP -
A brother and sister share a bowl of soup after they and their mother fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine and crossed the border at Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Nadia, a Ukrainian woman, walks around with her baby in a car park in Przemysl, Poland as she waits for help with transport and accommodation. Reuters -
A woman searches through donated clothes for useful items after she and her children fled the Russian invasion in Ukraine and crossed the border in Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Oksana, 30, holds a seven-day-old child after arriving by bus at a rendezvous point organised to help Ukrainian refugees with accommodation and transport to different cities in Poland. Reuters -
Refugees wait for help in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
People wait in a Polish car park to help refugees arriving from Ukraine. Reuters -
A father kisses his daughter after she, her mother and grandmother fled from the Russian invasion in Ukraine and crossed the border in Medyka, Poland. Reuters -
Refugees wait for help in Przemysl, Poland. Reuters -
Ukrainian refugees in the town of Maroz near Olsztyn, Poland. EPA -
A Ukrainian refugee in the town of Maroz, Poland. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees in the town of Maroz, northern Poland. EPA -
Hospital employees and volunteers make hundreds of beds to prepare for an influx of Ukrainian refugees in Rzeszow, Poland. AP -
Ukrainian refugees who arrived by evening train from Kiev to Warsaw are helped at the Warszawa Wschodnia railway station in the Polish capital. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive by train from Kiev at the Warszawa Wschodnia station in Warsaw. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive by train from Kiev to Warsaw, Poland. EPA -
Ukrainian refugees arrive from the Medyka border crossing in eastern Poland. AFP -
A man hugs a child at the Polish-Ukrainian border crossing in Medyka, Poland. Getty
Andrew Duda, Wolverhampton branch chairman of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said he had “had some phone calls” from people in the UK wanting to travel to fight the Russians in Ukraine, but had referred them to the embassy in London.
“Anybody that does want to fight, we’ve been told to advise them to contact the Ukrainian embassy in London,” he said.
“I’m not sure what the procedure is once people get to the embassy, but that’s what we’ve been told.”
The Ukrainian embassy in London could not be reached for comment.
