by Colin Freeman at The Telegraph
When he first headed for Ukraine as a foreign military volunteer, Matt Robinson imagined himself engaging the enemy on the Russian frontlines. Instead, his first taste of combat came not in the trenches of the Donbas, but on a bus driving through Poland.
The transport had been laid on by Ukraine’s International Legion, set up by President Volodymr Zelensky for those who had answered his plea for help against the Russian invasion. Yet it quickly became clear that not everyone abroad was a highly trained ex-Para or Royal Marine.
“One Polish volunteer was heavily intoxicated and suddenly became convinced the bus was actually taking us all to Russia,” recalls Yorkshire-born Robinson, 39. “He was about to pull a knife on the driver. A bunch of us disarmed him, and at that point I decided that joining the International Legion might not be a good idea if someone like him had passed the initial screening.”
It proved a wise call. While Robinson got off the bus to consider his options, the other volunteers travelled on, bound for a training base at Yavoriv in western Ukraine. Two days later, on March 9, that base was hit by 30 Russian cruise missiles in what the Kremlin called a strike on “foreign mercenaries”. At least 35 people were killed, among them reportedly three former British special forces troops.
“With hindsight, it was the right call not to be hasty,” Robinson says…
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