Harulf, a Canadian soldier, the commander of the Norman Brigade, speaks about war in Ukraine and the need for the West to provide more weapons due to conversation with the host Oleh Klymchuk for Ukraine Calling, the English-language podcast from Hromadske Radio in Kyiv.
There are different types of officers in Ukraine, but all of them need to understand that they have to try to save their people, Harulf thinks.
«I met two different types of officers: you have the new school officers, who had been in contact with NATO. And you also had the hardline officers that came from the Soviet background who sometimes just said: «I have a mission to do, this is the resource that I have, and I can only follow orders». They didn’t have this open mindset, flexibility type of thing. Things are starting to change, but we are losing our best. This is also what Ukraine also must realize. We are losing very, very good people».
One of the most important things is for the West to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs.
«The West should start pulling their finger out of their nose and start giving us what we need. More than just a few things there and there. Now this is very important. We could talk a lot about this, how discontent I am with the support that the West is giving or not giving, but they should stop thinking about «the risk of escalation». Things already escalated in 2014. If people don’t see it, there’s a problem. Now there’s where the Russian propaganda comes into play, how they have been poisoning the perception of good people who probably think that they should come first before helping Ukraine, for instance. If we lose here, it’s done. Like it’s gonna be a terrible, terrible era for the world if Russia succeeds in Ukraine. So, please, contact your local politicians and tell them to send whatever they can as fast as possible. We must win this».
You may also read or listen the full conversation: «Ukrainians’ courage may appear suicidal to foreigners» — Commander Harulf of the Norman Brigade