a young Frenchman recounts his commitment to the Ukrainian army

Marcus, that’s his nom de guerre, arrived in Ukraine on May 2, 2022. This 31-year-old computer technician had no war experience but, on June 18, he joined the army Ukrainian. “Ukraine was the great discovery of soldier life and what war is“, he says at the microphone of franceinfo, while he is currently undergoing training with his brigade near kyiv, which includes other foreigners.

franceinfo: Have you had no military training?

Marcus: We are not trained. That’s the problem! Before Ukraine, I took “private lessons”, let’s call it that, in a training center in Poland called the European security academy and which offers courses to learn how to handle weapons in fire and military tactics for civilians or people who are already in the army or the police. I spent two weeks in Poland: for one week, I learned how to handle handguns and rifles, especially Kalashnikov. The second week, I learned how to apply a pressure bandage, or stop a bleeding. Before leaving, I had heard feedback that the volunteers had very little training.

“In my unit, we have not been trained or trained at all as one can be in a Western army.”

We were simply shown how our guns worked. We went a little on the shooting range to see what happens when you handle a Kalashnikov. We did two or three exercises to learn how to move in squads, but we don’t have intense physical training like the one you can see in the French army, for example.

Which unit did you join?

My unit is a territorial defense unit and the brigade I belong to is called “Ivan Bohun First Special Operations Brigade” [du nom d’un colonel cosaque ukrainien]. In the same way that the International Legion is also attached to territorial defense, the term “special“in the sense that we are recruiting foreign volunteers in this brigade. We will thus have a platoon made up of Ukrainians, another of Georgians and Belarusians, or even a platoon made up of English-speaking people. All communication is done in English.

“There were three French speakers in my platoon: me and another Frenchman. We also had a French-speaking Quebecer who was killed in action during one of our missions at the end of July.”

Our brigade is based in Zhytomyr near kyiv. We were deployed in the Donbass, near Siversk. We had the Russian forces that were 500 meters across a river. Members of my unit specializing in anti-tank combat took part in the battle of Severodonetsk, but for my part, the papers were not yet completely settled, particularly in terms of contracts and military papers. So, in fact, I was deployed right after, and our unit took up position near a village called Bilohorivka. This is the village where the Russians attempted a crossing in May. And in early June they were repelled by the Ukrainian army. They lost a little over sixty vehicles if I remember correctly.

How are you paid?

I am paid according to a scale, depending on the number of days spent in combat zones. We receive a basic salary which is 15,000 hryvnas, which corresponds in fact to our rank. That’s about 430 euros, to which is added a bonus of 3,000 hryvnas per day if deployed in a combat position. Me personally, I don’t do it for the money and I admit that I have a little trouble evaluating how good the pay is or not.

“You are never paid enough to put your life in danger. What motivates me is the fact that if Ukraine loses, other countries will follow.”

And that’s what drives me to get up every morning and take my weapon to join my comrades in combat positions. In fact, money is a plus, it is not negligible. And I admit that I earn more than the salary I received in France.

What is your motivation ?

She is very pure and can be a little naive. It’s quite simply on my French passport: it says French Republic, but it also says European Union: that means that beyond my status as a French citizen, I’m also a European citizen. And for me, Ukraine is the European Union, even though they never signed the papers.

“For me, they are part of the European Union and the European Union being attacked, my duty as a European citizen is to take up arms to go and defend it.”

I come from a military family. My paternal grandfather fought in the Algerian war. My father was in the beginning of his adult life in the marines and my maternal grandfather was in the resistance during the Second World War. And if we go back even further, I lost all my great-grandfathers during the First World War. So, if you want, I am the guardian of this heritage. The Ukrainian people are fighting for their freedom, their independence and when I saw what was happening there, I called some Ukrainian friends. To that moment, in my head, something shifted. I said to myself: I, the guardian of this heritage of freedom fighters, cannot stay at home, on my sofa, doing nothing.

And what does your family think?

I’m not married. I have my mother, my little sister and my little brother. So obviously, when I told them the news that I was going to Ukraine, they took it with some reluctance and then, obviously, fear, concern. But I make sure to give them as much news as possible. I was born in the south, but I spent most of my life in the Paris region. I will celebrate my 31st birthday in September.

How long do you plan to stay in Ukraine?

The obvious answer to me would be until the end of the war, but that may take a while. Honestly, I don’t know until when I will continue. I will continue as long as I have this motivation in my body that what I do is important. The day when this motivation will start to crumble, I will start asking myself the question of whether I am going back to France or not. In any case, I think my life will now unfold in Ukraine because I met someone, a Ukrainian. She is an English teacher. During the war, we find death, but sometimes we can also find love!

Afterwards, the Ukrainian government still has to accept that foreign volunteers who have fought can obtain Ukrainian nationality. If I am offered the possibility of acquiring Ukrainian nationality without losing my French nationality, I think that I will indeed accept this Ukrainian nationality and I will stay in Ukraine. Also because I have my contract in the army running out.