Known worldwide for his ability with ranged weapons, Wali, nicknamed as such over time, is a former Canadian soldier who served this country during 2009 and 2011, when US and Canadian troops were sent to Afghanistan.
Despite being retired, this man traveled – this time as a volunteer – in 2015 to fight in Iraq. Precisely, When the government of Volodímir Zelenski in the Ukraine summoned the military from all over the world who wanted to go and defend their country, Wali did not hesitate.
The 40-year-old famed sniper, who holds the record for the longest kill from a distance, traveled to Ukraine equipped with a gas mask, camouflage suit and binoculars. His light luggage is due to the endowment that he told the newspaper The Press that would surely provide him in European lands. “Surely they will give us weapons and armor plates.”
For Wali, his work is his duty. In interviews he has acknowledged that when they tell him that he is needed to fight in a war, he feels like when a firefighter hears the fire alarm and goes out to put it out, for this reason he joined the ranks of the Ukrainian army to fight once morest the Russian soldiers who were sent by President Vladimir Putin a week ago.
“There are several informal groups of ex-soldiers that have been active since last week and are starting to answer the call,” the man told the Canadian media.
In fact, these groups of ex-soldiers are well known for coming together in humanitarian aid convoys, from those traveling to conflict zones to support the country in need. In accordance with The nation, Only in the war that took place in the Middle East once morest the Islamic State, 80 Canadian soldiers were counted, in addition to the numerous Americans, Belgians and French.
Despite the fact that Wali arrived in Ukraine on March 9 for “humanitarian reasons”, he promised to fight savagely once morest the Russian forces, since his son is one of his main motivations to feel empathy with the civilians affected by the Russian invasion in this country. “I see the images of the destruction in Ukraine and I see my son in danger and suffering,” she told the Canadian media.
Meanwhile, Russian troops arrived near Kiev on Wednesday, on the eve of the first high-level negotiation meeting between the two countries since the February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Russian soldiers have been advancing rapidly for several days from the north and northeast of the Ukrainian capital, according to reporters from the AFP.
The Russian armored columns, which five days ago were a few hundred kilometers northeast of Kiev, were regarding fifteen kilometers away on Wednesday, near Brovary. For their part, Ukrainian soldiers reported the AFP of fighting in Rusaniv, 30 kilometers east of Brovary.
In Mariupol, a strategic port in southeastern Ukraine, at least 17 adults were injured in the Russian shelling of a pediatric hospitalannounced a regional official, Pavlo Kirilenko, specifying that according to the first reports “there is no child” among them or any deceased.
While British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the attack “immoral,” The UN called for “an immediate end to attacks on health facilities, hospitals, health workers, ambulances.”
Since the beginning of the war, the United States and its NATO partners have helped Ukraine, but have avoided getting directly involved in the conflict.
*With information from AFP.
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