A Muskingum County man is among more than 3,000 U.S. citizens applying to join Ukraine's international legion to fight invading Russian troops.
Hoeft paused his aeronautical engineering studies at Muskingum University, took a leave from his job as a quality technician, and started to pack for his upcoming trip Monday.
“Ukrainians have shown their courage and they are calling on every resource and lever they have to defend themselves. We applaud their bravery,” a spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Statement said in an email statement. “However, our Travel Advisory remains: U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine, and those in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using commercial or other privately available options for ground transportation.
"At best, they can expect to be prosecuted as criminals,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor KonashenkovRussia’s state-owned news agency TASS. “We are urging all foreign citizens who may have plans to go and fight for Kyiv’s nationalist regime to think a dozen times before getting on the way." “The reason I feel like we’re doing the right thing is that in this conflict, there really aren’t two sides of the story,” Hoeft said. “There’s bipartisan support for the Ukrainian people and support across countries. For me, that’s evidence that we’re doing the right thing.”Amidst overwhelming uncertainties, Hoeft has little idea of what to expect after he arrives in Poland on Monday.