“Every day there are victims. Every day your friends die, ”said Shadow, the field name of a former Canadian soldier from Sherbrooke, Quebec. His last two months in Ukraine were not the same as he experienced during his years in the Canadian army. After risking his life several times, he has decided: he will never come back to the front.
Ten days ago, Shadow almost avoided death, again. Along with his friend Wali, a Canadian sniper who also volunteered in Ukraine, and two Ukrainian soldiers and friends, he was assigned to follow a Russian tank in the Donbass region in the east of the country.
The quartet believes they have not been seen. Two Ukrainian soldiers even came out of hiding to smoke cigarettes and offered some to the Canadians. Wali refused, but Shadow joined them when the Russian tank suddenly turned and fired in their direction.
The shell landed exactly between the two Ukrainian soldiers. The explosion pushed Shadow back into the trench, unscathed. But his two friends were not so fortunate. One died immediately, the other a few minutes later.
” He was only a few feet away from me, still breathing. We looked at each other and he died in front of me. Two of my friends died in front of me. “
The two Canadians, who were more numerous and less equipped than the Russians in front of them, had no choice but to try to flee. They were able to escape, despite enemy fire.
” This was my last patrol on the Eastern Front. I only have one word to describe it: it’s hell. “
Every day there are victims. Every day your friends die. Every day. I have American friends, former sailors, most of their missions are to go and collect corpses. [sic] of their friends killed in action. That’s life up front.
“It’s my first time”
Shadow and Wali were among thousands of volunteers from around the world who responded to the call for help from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Since they arrived about two months ago, they have witnessed several times the volatile nature of war, how every ordinary little moment has suddenly turned deadly.
This even happened to Shadow, who had not experienced war during his years in the Canadian Armed Forces, in the very first battle of his life. Deployed in Irpin, near kyiv, he had to help Wali and carry his ammunition.
His team was quickly stormed by the Russians, who bombed the building where they were.
The tank hit us. It lowered our building, but passed us a few yards. After the Russians started shooting with lighter weapons, we went out of hiding and [il y a eu] a big battle!
That’s my first time. The Russians were about 50 meters from us, there were bullets flying anywhere, everywhere. We could do nothing, they forced us to surround ourselves.
A Ukrainian soldier eventually threw a grenade, giving Shadow’s team time to flee. This person saved our lives.
“I made my time”
After so much experience of the genre, Shadow will never be back in the forefront. But he also could not bring himself to leave Ukraine and its citizens. For now, I will be involved in humanitarian aid. I will stay in Lviv and be as accommodating as possible.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Government of Canada has advised its citizens to avoid all travel to Ukraine. If you are in Ukraine, you should take refuge in a safe place, unless it is safe to leave the countryadvised Global Affairs Canada at the end of February.
With information from Murray Brewster and David Common of the CBC
Source: Radio-Canada
