Canadian recounts his time fighting in Ukraine: ‘It was the only one right decision’

A Canadian traveled to Ukraine to both join the fight and help his mother, who lived in Kyiv, flee the country. He survived a missile attack and got his mother to Canada.

Just a few weeks ago Maksym Sliepukhov was taking cover in a Ukrainian forest after Russian missiles hit the army base where he and fellow international volunteers had been training for combat.

It was a world away from his job as a warehouse logistics manager in Toronto– a post he quit so he could travel to Ukraine to both join the fight and help his mother, who lived in Kyiv, flee the country.

Now, after surviving the missile strike and getting his mother to Canada, Sliepukhov sits in a west Toronto restaurant recounting his time in Ukraine.

“Before February 24th, my regular day was like a casual, normal-human-being day. After February 24 … It was the only one right decision to do,” Sliepukhov says of choosing to join the fight in Ukraine.

Sliepukhov was among the foreign volunteers who headed to the country to join the international legion of the Ukrainian army after Russia’s invasion began on Feb. 24.

The 36-year-old flew first to Poland in February and then went on to Ukraine with a plan to head to the capital, where his mother lived.

“My main goal from the beginning was to go to Kyiv, because I’m from Kyiv, but when we got to Ukraine the situation was changing so fast,” he says.

Sliepukhov, who became a Canadian citizen last year, instead made his way to a training base near Lviv, in western Ukraine. Since he had served in the Ukrainian army for a year before immigrating to Canada in 2014, he says he was made a platoon commander and led a group of 38 international volunteers in training missions.