By Regina Tsz-Ching Lam

中文繁體版本 The original Traditional Chinese version
中文简体版本 The original Simplified Chinese version
(The article was first published in March 2022 on the BBC Chinese website.)

As the flood of refugees continues to pour out of Ukraine into neighbouring countries, a trickle of international volunteers quietly streams the other way – heading into the embattled country.

Among the stream of international volunteers were a small number of Hong Kongers who had only recently left their home city due to political crackdown and settled in the UK. 

Some of the Hong Kong volunteers planned to join Ukraine’s “foreign legion”, and some just wanted to offer humanitarian support.

Twenty-five-year-old warehouse worker Spencer and 40-year-old experienced nurse Alice belong to the first group.

“Just like how it was in Hong Kong”

Recently settled in southern England, Spencer had been glued to television and social media ever since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.  The desperate plight of refugees and scenes of violence brought back memories of Hong Kong’s protest days.   

Same for Alice, the war in Ukraine reminded her of those long days and nights when she took risks to save injured protestors.

“We can't let Ukrainians fight this war alone,” said Spencer.  “Can we?”

Having been through Hong Kong’s struggle for freedom, he felt obliged to join the Ukrainian fight against “violent oppression”. 

“Freedom never comes free,” said Spencer. “A lot of people sacrificed their lives to win the freedom we have today.”

 On the fifth day of the Russian invasion, answering Ukrainian President Zelensky’s call for an international volunteer force, Spencer and Alice contacted Ukraine’s Embassy in the UK via email. Eager to get going, shortly after they fired off the email, and before even hearing a word, they already booked a flight to Poland for the next day. 

Alice didn’t have any battlefield training and the most “military” experience Spencer had was some short leisure firearm training in Taiwan. Violent street clashes between police and protesters in Hong Kong were the closest thing to war they knew.

Once friends became aware of what they were up to, a lot of them tried to stop the pair. 

“People ask if I'm afraid? How can I not be?” asked Alice.  “Those are real tanks and shells.”

But their minds were made up.

Whether it was adrenaline or nerves, however excited they were, Spencer felt butterflies and nausea, and almost threw up before the flight to Poland. 

For Alice and Spencer, this was deeply personal, and simply too big a fight not to get involved in. 

Whenever they talked about the war in Ukraine, they couldn’t help but describe it as “just like how it was in Hong Kong.”

A matter of life and death

On the sixth day of Russia’s invasion, with a degree of trepidation, Spencer and Alice finally arrived in the Polish city of Krakow.  They were now only a three-hour drive away from the nearest Polish-Ukrainian border crossing – their goal was literally within sight.

After a fleury of email exchanges with a Ukrainian liaison organisation, Alice was assigned to the international force’s medical team, and Spencer was allowed to accompany her. The liaison organisation also informed them that they’d been picked up from their hostel and driven across the border to a Ukrainian military base nearby.

 As reality began to dawn on them, a thousand thoughts raced across their minds. Spencer and Alice fell quiet all of a sudden.

Alice refused to entertain the possibility of dying in a war zone; Spencer knew there was no turning back. 

“We must plan for the worst once we go,” said Spencer. “We all die one day, it’s only a matter of how.”

While still pumped up to go, they realised that they really didn’t know what to expect in a war.  Hoping for the best, they were also preparing for the worst.  Merely hours before their trip across the border into Ukraine, the two sent off their wills in a hurry.

 The Ukrainian pick-up transport arrived. 

After picking up the final round of supplies in local stores, the two Hong Kongers checked out of the hostel and crammed into a small, beat-up people carrier with another international volunteer.

Entering Ukraine

The ride was bumpy and extremely uncomfortable.  The vehicle seemed to drift from left to right. With no storage compartments, passengers and their luggage swayed and bounced along the way. 

To take their minds off the journey and the myriads of thoughts, Alice and Spencer tried their best to focus on the scenery outside the windows. 

“We are not very far from war now,” Spencer murmured.  His thoughts began to get foggy.  

"No date of return."

 The rendezvous point was an old-fashioned motel on the Polish side of the border.  Upon arrival, all Alice and Spencer could see was a dozen or so foreign journalists and volunteers in military fatigue filing in and out.

 Just when they thought the journey was over, little did they know, a surprise was waiting for them in the shape of a contract. 

 Alice and Spencer recounted that apparently, all new joiners of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine must sign a contract valid until “the end of the martial law state” – or the end of general hostility.

“The contract was issued for its whole duration and did not have a specific length of service. It was not limited to a number of weeks or months,” said Spencer.  In other words, they would have no control over when they could leave and go home.

That was a shocker to the two. 

“I didn’t expect there would be no date of return,” said Spencer. “They will even take our passports away.”

 Alice was even more put off.   She said, “I was not asking for favours, but I should have the say on when I could leave.”  

According to Ukraine’s State News Agency Ukrinform, Ukraine's First Deputy Minister Yevhen Yenin said foreign nationals who volunteer to fight for Ukraine “will sign a contract, get a military passport, which will replace their residence permit”.  

“If any of these foreign nationals would like to become Ukrainian citizens, we will provide a way for that through legislation,” he said.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said more than 20,000 people from 52 countries have signed up to join the foreign force. The BBC cannot verify the number independently.

The UK Ministry of Defense advised citizens against travelling to Ukraine to fight as doing so could be violating terrorism laws.

“Very different from what I expected.”

 While Alice and Spencer struggled with contract terms, other international volunteers approached them to chat.  Many volunteers appeared to be pumped up and ready for action. 

 “They seemed like gun enthusiasts...a bit obsessed,” Spencer remembered.

 Those volunteers’ enthusiasm for military action sowed further doubts in the Hong Kong pairs’ minds.

 After much debate, they decided not to sign the contract and not to continue with the journey east. 

However, that did not mean they gave up on the idea of helping Ukraine.  As they made their own way back to Krakow, they actively looked for ways to offer help to refugees who continued to pour across the border. 

“It was very different from what I had imagined,” said Alice.  “I don’t know if I could hold up long mentally.”

“We can’t be seen shaking in fear”

Of course, not all Hong Kong volunteers stopped at the border.   

Some did enter Ukraine and joined the international effort. Some went on to carry out humanitarian work.

One day after Alice and Spencer returned to Krakow, another pair of Hong Kongers from a UK-based church reached Lutsk, about 70 miles north of Lviv, through local church connections.

From Lutsk, a pastor and a member of England Good Neighbour Church then travelled to the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa. They delivered medicines and other necessities to the senior citizens living alone.

At the same time, another four members of the church stayed in the Polish border town of Chelm, distributing food and picking up refugees at makeshift refugee centres.

When asked why they had to go into Ukraine, Pastor Roy Chan Ho-hing said he couldn't stand on the sidelines and watch Ukrainians fight alone.

 Pastor Chan said he experienced a similar sense of helplessness when Hong Kong was going through the darkest hour of pro-democracy protests.

 “It felt like the world kept quiet while we suffered,” said Pastor Chan.

 When talking to the BBC, Chan was on his way travelling from Odesa back to Lviv.  

 That very evening, while he stayed over in a small town, persistent air raid sirens went off.  Citizens hurried to turn off all lights and the town plunged into darkness.

 Chan joked over the phone that of course, he was aware of the safety risks, but he also said that was no reason to hold him back.

 “Ukrainian women were still having coffee on the street side when the siren went off,” said Chan. “We can’t be seen as shaking in fear.”

Help in another way

 Alice and Spencer gradually gathered themselves after getting back to Krakow. Although bulked at the initial goal of joining the international volunteer corps, they still hoped to contribute and help in some way. 

 Seeing train-loads of refugees continue to roll in from Ukraine, Alice remarked on the resilience of the Ukrainian people. 

 “Even while fleeing from their home country and leaving loved ones behind, they kept calm and orderly,” she said. “What a strong people.”

To protect our interviewees, Alice is a pseudonym.