the testimony of a Frenchman engaged against the Russian army to “allow our freedoms to continue to exist”

On his CV, Florent Coury has nothing of a hothead: career as an HR executive at Renault, passed by Sciences Po, father of three young children… But three days after the start of the Russian offensive, he has decided to engage with the Ukrainian forces. “Ukraine is the front line that will allow our freedoms to continue to exist in the future, he believes. Our democratic model is worth defending.”

The 39-year-old Frenchman took the road to the East. He joined a Ukrainian base and, alongside British, Baltic or Canadian nationals, began his training: “Basic techniques, maneuvers, teams, handling of firearms… But we have to be realistic: we will rather serve as a protection force for logistical installations at the rear of the front, to release soldiers who have the skills to fight.”

“They defend their country, but also the cause of our democracies.”

Florent Coury, volunteer in Ukraine

at franceinfo

The few dozen Western volunteers in this unit include former soldiers and inexperienced young men, but not only: “I have in mind an American woman who has the profile of a doctor. She has just signed up to be a combat medic.”

For the past two days, Florent Coury has been assigned to communication and the recruitment of volunteers from Poland. “We return to the era of the International Brigades of 1936, he says. It is also a presence of sympathy with people who feel abandoned by the West. They are not only defending their country, but also the cause of our democracies and of Europe.”

This militant of the Republican Spring explains that he is extending a commitment to fight against the far left and the far right in France pro-Putin. A claimed Macronist, he does not rule out running for the legislative elections. But he refutes any publicity stunt in his departure for Ukraine: “You cannot at the same time say ‘the politicians are there only for their own interests’ and at the same time criticize someone who goes into the field to send a strong political message. You call that a springboard, I it’s called having the courage of your ideas.”

The most complicated for the father of the family remains the distance from his relatives. According to him, his children understood his commitment. The last evening before departure, his eldest asked him to sing Bella Ciaothe song of the resistance fighters.