A British veteran sniper said he told his wife he was going birdwatching before travelling to the Ukraine to help fight Vladimir Putin‘s forces.
The father-of-two, from Wirral, north west England, said his wife would ‘freak out’ when she realised that he had flew into Poland to join the fight in the Ukraine.
The veteran, who asked to remain anonymous, said he wanted to help the ‘overwhelmed’ Ukrainian army from the Russian president, who he described as a ‘modern-day Adolf Hitler’.
He said he felt like he couldn’t sit back and watch when he has military experience, saying his children are grown up and he has done what he needed to do as a husband and father.
‘If I don’t come back, then so be it,’ he added.
Grandfather Ian Parkinson, 60, from Wirral, was also at the border and said he understands that most people wouldn’t travel to the Ukraine to fight.
Mr Parkinson, who is a former soldier turned photographer, added that everyone can do something to help the Ukrainian war as he criticised politicians for not doing enough.