Travels to war: – Will kill Putin

MEDYKA (Dagbladet): – Are you going to fight, we ask.

Wearing camouflage clothes, the two young Ukrainians, Roman and Mikhail, walk up to the border fence. The clock is approaching 23 Saturday night.

– Yes, yes, yes, they say in unison.

Ukrainas president prays Sunday about foreign volunteers come to Ukraine and enlist as foreign fighters. The authorities set up a separate foreign war battalion to take part in the fighting against the Russian invasion forces.

They have previously refused all men between the ages of 16 and 60 to leave the country. Dagbladet has spoken to several refugees who say that men have been taken out by refugee trains on their way to Poland and ordered home to fight.

Wipes the tears: Finally together again

Ready for war

Here in Medyka, one of the border posts between Poland and Ukraine, Dagbladet got hitched by the fire brigade and escaped all the way to the border fence late Saturday night.

In the course of half an hour, 5-10 young men in camouflage clothes were ready late on Saturday night, ready to fight – so far primarily Ukrainians. But on social media, several initiatives have been circulating in the last few days to gather and coordinate militant foreigners who want to fight in Ukraine.

The trailer drivers Roman and Mikhail are closest and trip, high on adrenaline. They have driven from Denmark, where they have delivered a trailer load.

– We’re going home. My daughter and my brother are in Ukraine. I have family in several places in the country. My boss is already in Ukraine to fight.

– Do you have military experience yourself?

– Yes.

Will kill Putin

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky himself has donned camouflage clothing, a combat vest and a machine gun and is taking part – along with several other members of the government – in the fighting against Russia.

It seems Roman and Mikhail are good.

– The president is good. He’s young, he’s reliable, he’s nice and a cool guy.

– What do you want to say to President Putin?

– If I could get him, I’d kill him on the spot. Do not shoot him. Taken him by the hands. Listen to me – it’s a video showing a Russian tank driving calmly right over a Ukrainian car, says the trailer driver.

Fear the Chechens

Dagbladet has seen the video – and others similar. But have not had the opportunity to verify if they are genuine. Roman does not have that doubt.

– Are the Russian soldiers human at all? I do not think so. There is no other way to look at it, he says.

Russia has struggled to find allies for its invasion. But Belarus and Chechnya support the Russian war of aggression. Roman fears in particular the troops of Chechen President Ramzan Khadyrov. He says:

– Now the Chechens are coming. They do not shoot you, they chop you and twist the knife around your body. Like kebab lamb at the butcher.

Chaotic

Around them on the Polish side of the border it is cold, crowded and relatively chaotic. But there is food, blankets and some basic equipment to get. A large supermarket some distance away had opened late Saturday night and let people in. The situation on the Ukrainian side is significantly worse than in Poland, several refugees and volunteers tell Dagbladet.

– People stand in line for 20-30-40 hours. Without food, without water, says the relief worker Yuri Synenkyi to Dagbladet.

We meet him in an impromptu refugee camp in Przemysl – the last major city before the border, where refugee trains arrive from Kiev and Lviv.