EXCLUSIVE: 'I will go to Ukraine to fight for freedom'
Stefan from Annan tells us why he is enlisting to fight the Russian invasion
Last updated 15th Mar 2022
A man from Annan is telling Forth 1 why he's leaving the UK to join soldiers fighting Russian forces in Ukraine in an exclusive interview.
We're calling him Stefan because his identity can't be revealed for safety reasons.
Stefan is of Ukrainian descent with his parents settling in the southwest of Scotland after the Second World War.
He told our reporter Joseph Gartly why he believes he has to fight for the future of the country.
"You see 18 and 19-year-old boys and and girls who haven't had the chance of a life. But if they're willing to put their bodies on the line how can I in all good conscience not offer to do the same?"
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War has united Ukraine
"Ukraine will win because we're fighting for our homes and the sovereignty of our homeland.
"That's motivation and the determination the Ukrainian people have.
"He Putin has done more to unite in the last 19 days than politicians have done in the last 30 years of independence.
"I was always brought up to be passionately Ukrainian. I speak some Ukrainian - I can get by. I've spend a lot of time in the country since independence. Before Covid I spent two months there."
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