:quality(80)/cdn-kiosk-api.telegraaf.nl/5552a70a-a5ef-11ec-9756-02d2fb1aa1d7.png?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "Feared sniper warns of ‘new Stalingrad’: ‘Putin will pay huge price’ | Abroad")
Wali, his real name is unknown, has flown in from Canada and crossed the border into Ukraine via Poland, where he will face Putin’s army. He left his wife and child behind. The 40-year-old Canadian has a considerable track record and says he feels called to battle. “If Putin really wants Kiev, he will have to pay a huge price. Nobody wants the Russians here and everyone will resist,” he told the British newspaper by telephone. He says he feels very welcome and has already made friends among the Ukrainians.
Wali is said to be in an unknown location on the outskirts of Kiev. “When I look from where I am now, I see so many buildings to shoot from and countless places to hide weapons and launch ambushes. The damage we can do to them will be insane. They will lose so many lives that it will become a new Stalingrad.” Hundreds of thousands were killed in that battle in World War II with the Germans, in the end the Russians were victorious.
Wali was deployed to Afghanistan twice as a sniper with the Canadian Forces between 2009 and 2011. The Canadian also traveled to Iraq in 2015 to fight Islamic State. In 2017, he reportedly shot and killed a terrorist from no less than 3.5 kilometers away. A world record.
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Last week, Wali was still working as a computer programmer in Canada.
Ⓒ CBC News
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Alarm
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky called on all international armed forces to join Ukrainian fighters shortly after the raid. Wali was approached by a friend involved in the humanitarian corridors in the Donbas region.
The sniper didn’t have to think long about his answer: he had to go. To La Presse, he described that calling as “a firefighter who hears an alarm ringing.”
The life of the Canadian has changed quite a bit in one fell swoop. Back in his home country, he worked as a computer programmer in Canada, now he picks up anti-tank missiles from a warehouse, according to CBC News. He leaves his wife and son in Canada. “The saddest thing for me was missing my son’s birthday. I was on the phone for a few minutes. I was here in the dark, in an abandoned building with my flashlight – it felt like I was on a different planet from him.”
But it is precisely because of his son that he feels compelled to help, although his wife initially resisted. “When I see the images from Ukraine, I see my son who is in danger,” said the sniper expert.
About 20,000 people – including dozens of Dutch people – from 52 countries have signed up as volunteers for the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, Foreign Minister Dmitro Koeleba reported earlier. According to Koeleba, this concerns both veterans and people without military experience. He could not say from which countries the volunteers come, nor how many of them are already in Ukraine. But at least the Canadian Wali is one of them.
During an attack 25 kilometers from the Polish border, part of the foreign troops received a major blow this weekend due to a Russian bomb attack. 35 people were killed, but Ukrainian authorities said no foreign fighters were among them. 130 people were injured.
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