Ukrainians Return Home to Fight Russia: I Have to Go – WSJ

KORCZOWA, Poland A Ukrainian tattoo artist blasting heavy metal in a black Opel pulled up to Poland s border with Ukraine on Sunday, informing the immigration officers on duty that he was headed back to his home country to fight.

Good, a Polish officer told Nikita Azarkhin, 32, who stepped out and loaded a camouflage-print duffle bag full of first-aid kits onto a bus headed into Ukraine.

I would love not to fight, and be alive, but this is the time where if I want to be able to look myself in the mirror, I have to, have to go, said Mr. Azarkhin, who has been living in Berlin and had never fired a gun outside a firing range. Otherwise, I will live in my own personal hell in my head.

via www.wsj.com

It turns out Anya’s brother, his new wife and baby are not in Vienna, as I was given to understand, but in fact went back to Kyiv before the invasion, where they now are. So Anya’s entire family is now in Kyiv, in that city about to be encircled and laid siege to by the Russians. Luke is with Anya in Lund, Sweden. Both are now extremely anxious, exhausted and hoping for this war to end. Poor Anya. I’m glad they got out in time, but I can only imagine their feelings. The last we heard, Anya’s father and brother, who are both of military age, were making Molotov cocktails, because there were not enough guns.