WASHINGTON — 
When Matthew Parker, an American veteran with 22 years of service in the U.S. Army, heard that Russian forces had invaded Ukraine, he thought about a Ukrainian American soldier who had served alongside him with U.S. forces in Iraq and decided he wanted to help the Ukrainians defend their homeland.

“I had a soldier in Iraq with me who was from Ukraine,” he told VOA of his decision to join what he sees as a fight about justice and friendship. “He became an American citizen, joined the Army, and he told me about his home. He told me about his family and how proud they were. I remember him telling me about his little sister.

“Now … I'd like to think that by going to Ukraine, maybe I protect his mother, or his little sister or his home. Maybe in some small way, I say thank you to him for serving by doing something like this.”

Parker, who fought battles in Bosnia and Iraq, is not alone.

A representative of the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington told VOA that 3,000 U.S. volunteers have responded to the nation’s appeal for people to serve in an international battalion that will help resist Russia’s invading forces. Many more have stepped forward from other countries, most from other post-Soviet states such as Georgia and Belarus.

In an emotional video posted to his Telegram channel on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to an “international legion” of 16,000 foreign volunteers, who he said are being asked to “join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world.”

“We have nothing to lose but our own freedom,” the president said.




Matthew Parker, center with rifle, instructs other U.S. soldiers on the use of the AK-47 assault rifle during his military service in Tikrit, Iraq, in 2006. (Courtesy - Matthew Parker)

“They can place me where they need me,” he said. “Or they can only leave me as an instructor with the legion to teach Ukrainians how to use different weapons systems. So now they have a choice, they can put me in combat or use me as an instructor, but we're happy to help in whatever.”

For Parker, the fight in Ukraine is about more than the defense of one central European country that has been subjected to an unprovoked attack by a larger neighbor. Like many of the volunteers, he feels that Americans’ own democratic rights will be threatened if Russia is able to prevail.

“What Ukrainians are fighting is a bully, they are facing someone who does not honor international law, who does not care about women and children, and we fought this type of people before,” Parker said.

“We're stopping a bully from hurting women and children.”


https://www.voanews.com/a/american-veterans-volunteer-to-fight-in-ukraine-/6470781.html