Wali crossed the border into Ukraine on Wednesday, where he will face Putin’s army. The 40-year-old Canadian has a considerable track record.
Wali was deployed to Afghanistan twice as a sniper with the Canadian Forces between 2009 and 2011. The Canadian also traveled to Iraq in 2015 to fight the Islamic State. In 2017, his colleague reportedly shot a terrorist from no less than 3.5 kilometers away. A world record.
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Last week, Wali was still working as a computer programmer in Canada.
Ⓒ CBC News
Alarm
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky on Saturday called on all international armed forces to join the Ukrainian fighters. Wali was approached last Friday by a friend involved in the humanitarian corridors in the Donbas region.
The sniper didn’t have to think long about his answer: he had to go. To La Presse, he described that calling as “a firefighter who hears an alarm ringing.”
The life of the Canadian has changed quite a bit in one fell swoop. Last week Wali was working as a computer programmer in Canada, now he takes anti-tank missiles from a warehouse, reports CBC News. He leaves behind his wife and son in Canada. Because of his son, he feels compelled to help: “When I see the images from Ukraine, I see my son who is in danger.”
Nearly 20,000 people from 52 countries have signed up as volunteers for the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, Foreign Minister Dmitro Koeleba reported last Sunday. According to Koeleba, this concerns both veterans and people without military experience. He declined to say which countries the volunteers come from or how many of them are already in Ukraine. But the Canadian Wali is at least one of them.