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Global News published this video item, entitled “”I needed to do whatever I could do:” Canadian man fighting on Ukraine’s front lines” – below is their description.
Calgary trucker Matthew McGill is among thousands of volunteers who have joined Ukraine’s international legion, to defend the country against Russia’s invasion.
A 49-year-old Calgary resident, McGill serves in a signals platoon of the Ukrainian military on the Kharkiv front, where there have been heavy missile and artillery attacks.
Seán O’Shea spoke with McGill about what drove him to the front lines, his harrowing experiences in this war, and his message to Canadians back home.
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country located in Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the south.
Russia spans more than one-eighth of the Earth’s inhabited land area, stretching eleven time zones, and bordering 16 sovereign nations. Moscow is the country’s capital.
The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991 and since 1993 Russia been governed as a federal semi-presidential republic. Russia is a major great power, with the world’s second-most powerful military, and the fourth-highest military expenditure. As a recognised nuclear-weapon state, the country possesses the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Ukraine is a large country in Eastern Europe known for its Orthodox churches, Black Sea coastline and forested mountains. Its capital, Kiev, features the gold-domed St. Sophia’s Cathedral, with 11th-century mosaics and frescoes. Overlooking the Dnieper River is the Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, a Christian pilgrimage site housing Scythian tomb relics and catacombs containing mummified Orthodox monks.