After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, thousands around the world responded to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s impassioned call to come and defend his country.
Ukraine quickly found itself welcoming a grab-bag of volunteers, from those with no combat experience to committed, steady fighters.
Macer Gifford, the nom de guerre of former currency trader Harry Rowe, who joined the Ukrainian army in 2022, became one of the most recognizable figures supporting the country’s defense.
The Brit, who fought there for two years, told Business Insider about the chaotic first influx of volunteers, and the best — and worst — attitudes they brought with them.
Thousands of volunteers, nowhere to put them
Early estimates for the number of international volunteers who signed up to fight for Ukraine range from 4,000 to 20,000.
“This was a burst of energy, human energy, goodwill, passion from the international community,” said Gifford, who originally went out to help with aid and training but after the violence committed by Russian forces at Bucha felt compelled to fight.
He said Ukraine’s military infrastructure wasn’t ready for such an influx, and, at first, training and organization was poor.
Initially, the influx looked like it would sap Ukraine’s organization at a time when it was scrambling to train its own troops, he said.
But ultimately, he added, Ukraine was able to absorb them effectively.
The ‘true gems’ who showed up — and stayed
Volunteers came from all walks of life — and with a wide range of experiences and motivations.
“You saw very capable people with fantastic skills wanting to go out to share that knowledge,” Gifford said.
He added that many brought skills in battlefield medicine and familiarity with the Western weapons systems that were starting to arrive.
The “true gems” were those who stayed, showed humility, and became trusted by the Ukrainians, respecting the language and the culture, he said.
Those people quickly became extremely useful in the fight.
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The ‘passionate ones’
Others showed up with no experience at all.
These were “the passionate ones,” he said — those who heard Zelenskyy’s desperate appeal at the start of the conflict and were moved by it, motivated by politics and ideology.
Gifford isn’t critical of the inexperienced people who showed up full of zeal.
That’s how he started out, having fought alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces against ISIS in 2015 — initially with zero experience.
What matters is how people adapt and handle themselves. “You’re not a hero just for turning up,” he said. “You’re a hero for what you do.”
Courtesy of Harry Rowe
The worst kind of volunteer
Gifford said there were some “horror stories” with international volunteers.
Ukraine’s International Legion, set up early on to accommodate the fighters Zelenskyy called for, developed a reputation for dysfunction.
Gifford said he preferred to work with Ukrainians.
“Frankly, some very dangerous people have turned up as well,” he said. “But they are far and few between.”
Some troubled people came “primarily for a sense of completion,” he said, adding: “Many, quite frankly, shouldn’t have been there at all.”
“They might’ve been fleeing something in their home country, whether that’s drink or drug abuse,” he added. “They might see Ukraine as a place to prove themselves.”
Early on, volunteers also appear to have accidentally given away the location of a training site that was then struck by Russian forces.
According to Gifford, the worst kind of volunteer was the one who showed up thinking they know it all.
This kind of person “thinks that a tour or two in Afghanistan or Iraq means that he can boss around people in Ukraine,” he said, noting that the conflict in Ukraine is vastly different to anything that even most experienced fighters had seen.
The ‘screamers’
There’s another type of foreigner who shows up in Ukraine, he said.
“They call ’em ‘screamers,'” Gifford said. “A screamer, by definition, is someone who wears full Ukrainian uniform, often without a unit, who’s not even in the Ukrainian army.”
He said they wander through town, “sitting in coffee shops in places like Lviv and Odesa, which are perfectly safe, and don’t go within a thousand miles of the Ukrainian frontline.”
Gratitude to foreigners
Gifford said he doesn’t like to talk too much about the negative side of international volunteering, for fear of tarring them all with the same brush.
He said that many who’ve trod this path have worked to prove themselves, and that the gratitude of ordinary Ukrainians is undeniable.
People have offered to buy drinks or pay for his meal because they “love international volunteers,” he said. “Ordinary Ukrainians just love the fact that they’re not alone and there are people willing to risk their life.”
He also saw firsthand the gratitude of Ukrainians as his unit helped villages in Kherson Oblast, in the south of the country.
Ultimately, Gifford said of the volunteers, “I see them as a band of brothers who went out to support Ukraine in its hour of need, with a few crazy ones mixed in.”
