After officially joining Ukraine’s International Legion of Territorial Defense, Taiwanese national Naive Wang (王楠穎) documented his experience on the front line of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying he reminds himself to never forget that he is “fighting for his adopted home in the name of Taiwan.”
Wang recounted how after working in Ukraine for a decade, he rejected four job offers after evacuating to Poland to become a volunteer at a refugee camp in the Polish town of Medyka.
There, he used his fluent Ukrainian and English to help the refugees pouring into Poland.
Photo courtesy of Naive Wang via CNA
The New Taipei City native later enlisted with the International Legion of Territorial Defense to fight for his adopted home, after putting down roots in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
His decision soon received expedited approval after he demonstrated his linguistic talents by submitting an enlistment application in Ukrainian.
With his multilingual ability as his main tool, Wang now serves on the front line of the conflict.
Wang said it has been getting increasingly difficult to speak or text by electronic means due to military regulations on using communication devices, in addition to his unit being mobile.
Wang said he is prepared for the worst.
“Rather than saying that I won’t back down out of fear, it is more like I have prepared for the worst before coming here,” he said. “The worst-case scenario means getting shot, losing limbs, dying in the line of duty or even the torture I might endure as a prisoner of war should I get captured.”
Wang added that he also has to consider the possibility of having to survive in a war zone by himself if he is separated from his unit, with no supplies or maps, and having to avoid Russian troops.
“The military is very different from summer camp.” he said. “So many people enlisted, half thinking that they’d take the opportunity to sightsee. Then the closer we got to the front line, the more people started to come face to face with their own mortality and began to leave.”
More than half of those who entered the program with him have left since their service began, he said.
Thinking back on the first days after April 7, when he and his fellow recruits joined the foreign legion, Wang spoke about the harsh reality of war, even for someone like him who experienced the tunnels of Matsu as a part of his mandatory military service in Taiwan.
“When I arrived at the border, I had to change vehicles four times before arriving at the volunteer service camp,” he said. “They then interviewed me twice before I was officially allowed to enlist, and I started my first shift standing sentry from 2am to 4am the same day.”
He also recalled that on April 15, halfway through packing up his gear, they were forced to take shelter twice after hearing air-raid sirens.
Wang said his unit was then suddenly told to pick up ammunition for themselves at 1:30am, which only gave them a brief reprieve before they were shipped out to a different location by 5:30am, issued with one bun as nourishment and a bottle of water.
While most of what he related was bleak, Wang also spoke of heartwarming experiences, such as Easter and the bonds he forged with volunteers from other countries.
As a Christian, Wang said he and others conducted a simple Easter vigil, sharing a cracker and a cup of water as symbols of their devotion.
He added that volunteers of all nations display small versions of the flags from their respective nations in their base to remind themselves where they come from.
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