Joshua Robertson, from Barriere, heads to Ukraine April 11, 2022.

(CARLI BERRY / iNFOnews.ca)

A Barriere man who looks up to his Ukrainian grandfather says now is the time to honour his memory by supporting his home country.

Joshua Robertson is planning to step on the first flight of his life April 11. It was shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine Feb. 25, that Robertson and his friend from the U.S. decided they would head overseas together to support the country during the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for foreigners to join an "international brigade" to defeat Russia following its invasion.

READ MORE: Canadians prepare to fight in Ukraine as legal questions, security concerns swirl

Robertson was in Kelowna this weekend, receiving military training and military tactical gear from the Kelowna Stands with Ukraine group. The group began on Facebook and has been funding military tactical gear and medical equipment to Canadians fighting overseas in Ukraine in addition to bringing supplies to the front lines.

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand has said there are uncertainties around whether it is legal for Canadians to fight for the Ukrainian side but many Canadians have been answering the Ukrainian government’s calls to help defend the country.

Robertson is one of them. This afternoon, he is heading to a shooting range to learn how to shoot some of the weapons he’ll be using oversees, he said.

“My grandfather, he was a really big influence. He left Ukraine to come to help us Canadians fight in world war two, I believe. I know I have family down there and I need to go home. I want to take my family to Ukraine, my son. If we don’t stop this there’s not going to be a Ukraine to go to.

"The biggest reason I’m joining is so my son doesn’t have to fight the next war,” he said.

He’s not the first Interior resident to answer Zelenskyy’s call.

A Kelowna man is currently defending military units in Lviv. He left for Ukraine earlier this month.

READ MORE: Kelowna man defending military units in Ukraine

Robertson will be leaving his family behind, including his wife and nine-year-old son, who he said have been supportive of his decision.

“He's a kid. He thinks dad is going to play Call of Duty and that’s not the case, I’m not heading down there to pick up a weapon to go shoot,” he said. “My wife, she understands, she really doesn’t want me to go but she understands that no one is going to stop me.”

Robertson doesn’t yet know where he will be stationed in Ukraine but plans to support with humanitarian efforts or to guard equipment. When he lands in Warsaw, Poland’s capital, he will be meeting with residents and transferring Kelowna donations, before heading across the border. He will be meeting his U.S. friend overseas and they plan to stay together. He’s already taken out loans to purchase equipment, he said.

“We would like to be posted up whether it’s a guard station at the border. We really don’t want to be directly in the fights, unless we have to. Anything we can do, we’re just going down there to take the load off the actual heroes,” he said.

He plans to sign up with the Georgian Legion, a paramilitary unit formed by mostly Georgian volunteers fighting with Ukraine. He has no prior military experience aside from military cadets as a child, but always had an interest in military history and at one time wanted to join the Canadian Armed Forces.

Robertson is hoping to eventually get his Ukrainian citizenship and move to the country once his son is done with school.

“I was raised Ukrainian. My grandpa was a Ukrainian man. I had my first shot of vodka when I was five years old,” he said.

He has no fear of dying, he said. “I think the only thing I’m really scared of is flying… it’s going to be a 21-hour flight.”

Robertson will be speaking at a rally for Ukraine tomorrow, March 20 at 2 p.m. at the Harvey Avenue overpass near the Parkinson Recreation Centre.

Some of the military supplies Joshua Robertson will be taking to Ukraine.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Joshua Robertson

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