Canadian Igor Volzhanin was visiting friends here in late February, with plans to attend Louis C.K.'s stand-up comedy show in Kyiv, then jet to the Swiss Alps for a ski trip. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine upended all that, and Volzhanin instead answered President Volodymyr Zelensky's call for foreign volunteers to help Ukraine fight back.
The 34-year-old former tech entrepreneur, who grew up in Toronto, has no military experience. He signed up anyway.