How are US and Canadian Army veterans getting to Ukraine?

Ukrainian embassies worldwide sift through thousands of applications from volunteer fighters

Newlyweds Maria and David during their wedding ceremony in Oak Park, Illinois. Maria, who asked to be referred to only by her first name over fears for her family's safety, plans to fly to Poland then make her way to the Ukrainian border, ultimately aiming to volunteer to fight for her home country. AP

Sergey Korenev says goodbye to his two daughters in Portland, Oregon, before travelling to Ukraine to help in the war effort. He has gathered about $50,000 in donated medical aid which he plans to take to Ukraine before joining the fight. Getty Images / AFP

Sergey Korenev says goodbye to his two daughters. Getty Images / AFP

A foreign fighter from the UK prepares to depart to the front line in the east of Ukraine. Reuters

Belarusian volunteers receive military training at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv, Ukraine. Hundreds of Belarusians have arrived in Ukraine to help the Ukrainian army fight against the Russians. AP

'Alex' from the UK arrives at the Polish-Ukrainian border looking for transport to Lviv to join the fight. Getty Images

In a report issued by the Ukrainian military, Ukraine's President Voldymyr Zelenskyy appealed to foreigners to join his army in the fight against Russia. Getty Images

'Ian' from a town near Liverpool in the UK prepares to enter Ukraine from Poland to join the fight against the Russian army. Getty Images

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Matthew Parker thought he would be in Ukraine by now, helping the country fight off invading Russian forces.

Instead, the US Army veteran is at home in South Carolina helping other veterans find their own way to the war-torn country.

Last week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenzkyy put out a call for foreigners with military experience to come and help defend his country.

Following the call, Ukrainian embassies around the world were inundated with offers from people looking to join the fight, with more than 20,000 having signed up so far, the country's defence ministry reported.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the vertical tail fin of a Russian Su-34 bomber lying in a damaged building in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

An apartment building damaged after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

A woman puts her head in her hands as she sits on a cot in a shelter, set up for displaced persons fleeing Ukraine, inside a school gymnasium in Przemysl, Poland. AP Photo

Belarussian and suspected Russian helicopters on the flight line at Machulishchy Air Base outside Minsk, Belarus. AP Photo

Children look on as people fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine shelter in a school, in Drohobych, Ukraine. Reuters

Families eat in the shelter. Reuters

A woman looks out from a building damaged by Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, 100 kilometres away from Odesa, western Ukraine. AFP

A wounded Ukrainian man waits in the corridor of the central hospital of Mykolaiv. AFP

An elderly woman is carried in a shopping cart after being rescued from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP

A woman reacts as a train carrying children from Kyiv's Central Children's Hospital leaves the Ukrainian capital on its way to Lviv. Reuters

A girl sits in an improvised bomb shelter in Mariupol, Ukraine. AP

An elderly woman is coated in snow as she sits in a wheelchair after being rescued from Irpin. AP

Belarusian volunteers take part in military exercises at the Belarusian Company base in Kyiv. AP

Lessa, left, director of a nursery school turned into a refugee shelter, cries as she hugs Olega, who arrived from Kyiv with her baby, near Lviv. EPA

Ukrainians pass a damaged bridge as they flee from Irpin. AP

A man carries an elderly woman as people continue to leave Irpin. AP

A soldier stands on a barricade made of sandbags in central Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters

A charred Russian tank and captured tanks in the Sumy region. Reuters

People rest at a temporary shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Przemysl, Poland. AFP

Ukraine's ambassador to the Netherlands, Maksym Kononenko, third right, and his wife Tetiana Doroshenko, fourth left, attend a meeting of members of the Ukrainian community with Dutch King Willem-Alexander, third left, and Queen Maxima, second left, to discuss the situation in Ukraine, in The Hague. EPA

A Ukrainian soldier looks at the destruction after shelling in Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv. AFP

A refugee holds her dog as they wait for trains to Poland in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters

A woman ties ribbons in Ukrainian national flag colours in a girl's hair as people wait at a refugee assistance centre in Prague, Czech Republic. EPA

A Ukrainian soldier carries an elderly woman crossing the Irpin river on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

Lena, who had never left Ukraine before fleeing into Moldova, feeds Dasha, 3, soon after crossing the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Refugees without immediate plans to move further inland can stay the night in tents set up on Moldova's side of the border. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Tatiana and her son wait for a van that will carry them from the Moldovan border to Chisinau. Erin Clare Brown for The National

Each night, the Palanca refugee camp in Moldova feeds up to 300 people who arrive with no onward plans. Erin Clare Brown for The National

People pass a damaged bridge while fleeing the town of Irpin, close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. AP

A Ukrainian soldier stands guard next to a church in Irpin. EPA

A firefighter holds the baby of a Ukrainian refugee at the border in Romania. AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks in Kyiv. Reuters

A Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint in Kyiv. AP

Ukrainian activist Ihor Mazur, left, a veteran of the war in the country's east, looks at a night-vision device in Kyiv. AP

Ambassadors attend a UN Security Council meeting on threats to international security after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in New York. Reuters

Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergey Kyslytsya holds a paper with an image of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as he addresses the Security Council in New York. Reuters

A road sign put up in support of Mr Zelenskyy outside Russia's embassy in Washington. AFP

Ukrainian refugees at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine. EPA

Lethal and non-lethal Ukrainian aid is loaded on to a plane bound for Poland by Canadian soldiers in Trenton, Ontario. Reuters

Volunteers carry medical aid and necessities at a train station in Lviv. EPA

Everton players wear T-shirts in support of Ukraine as they warm up for an English Premier League football match against Tottenham Hotspur. AP

A residential building damaged by Russian shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine. Reuters

A man walks past a checkpoint in heavy snow in Lviv. Getty

A man fleeing fighting in Irpin waits to cross a river after Russian forces entered the city. Getty

Soldiers assist Irpin residents underneath a damaged bridge as they flee. Getty

Ukrainian civilians who volunteered to join the Territorial Defence Forces take part in a training exercise in Odesa after Russia's invasion. Reuters

Men carry a body to a lorry as people flee from the frontline town of Irpin. EPA

A Ukrainian police officer runs with a child as the sound of shelling echoes nearby in Irpin. AP

Parents and children struggle to board a train in Lviv. AP

So many have inquired that applications have been limited to those with previous combat experience.

Mr Parker, who retired from the Army as a sergeant first class 10 years ago, has all the requisite combat experience after three tours in Iraq and a peacekeeping tour in Bosnia. And now he’s helping the Ukrainian embassy in Washington sift through applications.

“I am unofficially helping the Ukrainians vet people” said Mr Parker.

It's a long process. Veterans must first email the Ukrainian embassy in their respective countries then submit documents proving their identity and combat experience. If they successfully complete that stage, they are interviewed by an embassy official.

Mr Parker, who runs a security training company in South Carolina, is helping the embassy run background checks and conduct interviews with aspiring foreign soldiers.

“I've interviewed him about his experience to determine where he would be best be suited,” said Mr Parker of a recent veteran he spoke with.

“And I've already written a note, which I will attach to his application, that I'll tell the Ukrainians based on my background check and my interview with him, I believe him to be suitable and I've already sent a message that says there are his specific talents and this is what I think you should do with him.”

Many of the people looking to volunteer are veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But working for the US military is different from working under a foreign government under attack.

“The army always took care of everything, so to go over there on their own, it's a little different,” Mr Parker told The National.

Many of the veterans cannot afford their own body armor or plane tickets, so Mr Parker has helped some connect with donors who can provide airfare while working with vendors to track down less expensive equipment.

He is also helping to arrange transport from Poland to Ukraine, where soldiers will be met by representatives of the Ukrainian International Legion.

Once in Ukraine, the volunteer soldiers will sign their enlistment papers.

"Wali", a Canadian sniper who served several tours in Afghanistan, has been in Ukraine for more than a week.

He said the situation on the ground with so many foreign fighters arriving at once has been a bit “chaotic”.

The sniper, who asked only to be referred to by his combat name, is part of a group of foreign fighters called the Norman Brigade. He arrived before Mr Zelenzkyy’s appeal for help.

Wali said it took more than a week to reach the front line and he still hasn’t seen any combat.

“The logistics are a bit messed up,” he told The National by phone. “Because everything moves so fast.”

The 12-year military veteran said the experience reminds him of his time fighting alongside the Peshmerga in northern Iraq against ISIS.

“It looks like the experience I had with the Kurds,” he said. “It's not as simple as it looks. A lot of people think that you just land near Ukraine and somebody gives you a weapon right away with bullets and you just start shooting everywhere.”

But Wali said he’s still waiting to receive a sniper rifle. Despite this, he is confident he will see combat soon.

As to why he joined the war effort, he said he felt compelled to help defend Ukraine.

“The question that we should ask is what do the Ukrainian people want? They want to be like Europe. They don't want to be like Russia,” he said. "I think they should be left alone.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine has stirred many veterans to action, awakening a primal sense of right versus wrong and good versus evil.

“This is the line and these people need help and they're fighting to the death, and their force is doing what it can do, so if I have the means to help, I'm gonna go help,” said Ward Carroll, a retired US Navy fighter pilot.

Mr Carroll, who hosts a popular YouTube show that focuses on the military, said many veterans heading to the front will have already accepted the possibility of dying and feel that this is a “just” mission that provides them with the purpose and direction they've been lacking in their post-military lives.

That is the mindset of Clayton Vonderahe, a retired Marine Corps correspondent.

“All I do is install auto glass,” he said. “That's one of the reasons why this almost sounds appealing, is I really want to live a life of substance again.”

Mr Vonderahe has only recently begun the volunteer application process and has not yet heard back from the Ukrainian embassy in Washington.

For Mr Parker, who is helping the Ukrainians approve applications, the reason to help is simple.

“I don't like bullies,” he said.

Once he is no longer needed in the US, he plans on flying over to join the fight in person.

US soldiers practise firing FIM-92 Stinger missiles. Photo: US Army

A Mexican soldier with a Russian-made SA-18 anti-aircraft missile launcher in 2011. AFP

A Ukrainian soldier takes part in an exercise using NLAW anti-aircraft missiles close to the city of Lviv. The UK has delivered 2,000 NLAWs to Ukraine. AP

Undated handout photo issued by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) of a Starstreak HVM (High Velocity Missile) surface-to-air missile system on display.

Soldiers in Ukraine launch US Javelin missiles during a military exercise. AP

German troops hold Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank weapons in a demonstration in Munster. Getty Images

A US Marine fires a M72 light anti-armour weapon during an exercise in Camp Fuji, Japan. Alamy

A Hezbollah militant aiming a Kornet anti-tank guided missile in southern Lebanon. AFP

Ukrainian soldiers with Stugna-P anti-tank weapons during a military exhibition in 2018. Getty Images