There are so many Canadians who have flown to Ukraine to fight the Russians that they've formed their own battalion.
A Ukrainian government source has told the National Post that there have been as many as 550 Canadian soldiers who answered President Zelenskyy's call for foreigners to join their military.
The International Legion for the Territorial Defence source, whose identity won't be disclosed for security reasons, confirmed has confirmed the hundreds of Canadians have gathered in Kyiv and have formed the ‘Canadian Ukrainian Brigade’.
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“International legion volunteers are usually kept together for logistics purposes as it is easier for communication, to avoid language barriers,” he said.
Many Canadians have applied to join the resistance through the defendukraine.ca website and are contacting the embassy and consulates. However, some are travelling via Poland directly to get to Ukraine.
The International Legion for the Territorial Defence source stated he wants global airlines to provide free travel to Poland for those who volunteer to fight alongside Ukrainians.
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However, he revealed that many organisations and churches are helping fund the trip for would-be fighters.
“We had a lady write us that her church started this campaign. It’s very sweet,” he said. “But if every airline donated at least five to 10 seats on the plane tomorrow, we could have been able to get all those 20,000 volunteers (from around the world) faster to Ukraine.”
Former Canadian Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, who is aiding diplomats in organising volunteers who wish to fight in the legion, said there are about 1,000 Canadians who have applied to fight alongside Ukraine.
“What is so heartfelt is that we have so many Canadian ex-military who are stepping forward and understand that this is just so fundamentally wrong,” he said.
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“They by nature are protectors and … they are willing to step forward, travel to Ukraine."
One of the foreign volunteers amongst the resistance is French-Canadian sniper known as 'Wali' who has been described as ‘one of the world’s best snipers’.
Wali cultivated a prestigious reputation in the military after being deployed twice to Afghanistan as a sniper with the Canadian Armed Forces between 2009 and 2011.
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He has been listed as belonging to the Canadian battalion credited with the world's longest confirmed sniper kill of 3.5km.
Earlier this month, Wali told CBC News that the reason he wanted to fight against Russian troops was simply to help Ukrainians and protect democracy.
"I have to help because there are people here being bombarded just because they want to be European and not Russian," he explained.
Charisa Bossinakis