The night before Russian forces crossed the border into Ukraine, Igor Volzhanin met with a friend at a cafeteria in central Kiev.
“We stayed there until about midnight talking,” the Canadian recalled in an interview with Ukraine.  “Speaking only of how, you know, jokingly, what we would have done if the war had started.  “There was deep anxiety, but I do not think any of us really expected it to happen the next morning.”
On February 25, Volzhanin’s vacation in Ukraine was to continue with a Louis CK comedy, and the next day he was to board a plane to France for a ski trip.  But his plans changed quickly.
Russian forces launched an offensive on 24 February.  A few days later, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed a call that was heard around the world when he asked people from all over the world to help his country fight Russia.
Volzhanin has no military experience, but he enlisted in the so-called International Defense Legion of Ukraine anyway.  He said he was the second of an estimated 20,000 people from 52 countries who have since volunteered to fight.
“I felt it was the right thing to do,” he said.  “When the war started, I had the option to leave the country. A car was actually waiting for me. And I felt… I was born in Ukraine. Well, this is kind of my home and I felt I wanted to defend it.”
The Canadians are one of the largest volunteer groups in the international legion, alongside those from the United States and Britain, according to a spokesman.  The organization is growing and seeking more members with combat experience, even when the Canadian government and other Western powers warn their citizens not to go to war in Ukraine.
But it’s not just the experience the legion is looking for, Volzhanin said.  It is also motivation.
“You are the underdog, you are being bombed and the war is much more intense,” he said.  “Death is a real possibility here.”
Volzhanin, a 34-year-old former tech businessman who grew up in Mississauga, OD, wore a camouflage T-shirt one late Saturday and around 7 a.m. local time, it was already past many hours.  When he was out, he said he was wearing about 12 kilograms of armor, which he described as “quite light”.
He is involved in evaluating candidates for the legion, the logistics and other duties as needed, he said.
He likened the legion to a “startup” – in a “positive sense” – in which he started from the ground level to put things into action.
If he applied to join the legion now, he would not be accepted due to his lack of military experience, he added.
Former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj is part of a group of volunteers who volunteered to help the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa contact and vet a Canadian who wanted to answer Zelenskyy’s call to arms.
Wrzesnewskyj said about 1,500 Canadians had applied to join the international legion.  However, while interviews with potential candidates began about a week ago after a temporary suspension, Wrzesnewskyj said none had been developed yet.
“They just watch to make sure they have the right people,” he said.  “It has been stressed again and again that these must be people who have real combat experience and that a proper interview and control process is taking place.”
The majority of Canadians who have applied have no combat experience and will not be accepted, Wrzesnewskyj added.
Volzhanin said he was “extremely” nervous when he first wrote.
“I was scared because I never served in the army,” he said.  “I did not know what to expect at that time in February. There were so many pictures and stories of people just giving them the gun and sending them to the front. I did not know what to expect.”
Now, about six weeks after his registration, he understands that “no one in the army is interested in sending untrained soldiers to the front,” and he is much calmer and more comfortable.
Some Canadians have decided to bypass the formal application process and head to Ukraine on their own to fight.  Wrzesnewskyj said there had been previous reports of Canadians being wounded or killed in battle.
“None of this, as far as I know, turned out to be right,” he said.  “And we hope that this will continue to be the case.  But (for) those who will eventually be directed, this is a real possibility “.
Exactly when the Canadians will begin to develop remains a mystery, but Wrzesnewskyj said volunteers are still needed, even as the conflict shifts from a total invasion of Ukraine to a war for the country’s east and south.
The Ukrainian embassy in Ottawa did not respond to a request for comment.
The legion has recruited veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, the Balkan Wars and people who fought drug cartels in South America, Volzhanin said.  In contrast to these conflicts, those in Ukraine can not be based on air superiority and other advantages.
Those who join the legion must sign a contract that says they will stay until martial law is lifted.  But there were some whose circumstances changed and they were allowed to leave, Volzhanin said.
“No one keeps them in the legion against their will or desire.”
But what he is telling people is that Ukraine is at war and is a country with few valuable resources for those who have a sudden change of mind.
“So if you’re already thinking ‘well, maybe I’ll do this for a limited time’, think about how much resources the country will have for you and whether or not you can contribute at least the same or more,” he said.
“And if you know you’re coming for a week or two, then it ‘s just not worth it.”
The conflict made him put things right and Volzhanin said he wondered how it would affect him in the future.
On the morning of the invasion, he said he was in a grocery store where he saw some people wearing branded clothes and carrying branded accessories.  From that moment on, he said he wondered if he could grab the threads of that old life and return as things were.
“I just remember thinking about how they lost all meaning. How not just weird, but how useless these things became in eight hours,” Volzhanin said.
“And this is true of many in the world. I look at the news and the lives of people and I think well, but it is not war. It is not death.”
What surprised him most, Volzhanin said, was how quickly the attack began.
“It makes you realize how thin the line really is between normalcy and war,” he said.
“Last night, you could just walk down the street and there are people, there are cafes, bars, everything is open, people are enjoying and then literally eight hours later, you could be in the war zone.  There is something that you thought was stable, something that has been built over the years, it could just be destroyed.  In a moment.”
This Canadian Press report was first published on April 16, 2022.