'I couldn’t stay home': Canadian with no prior military training joins Ukrainian forces

In the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Adam Oake, a Canadian with no prior military training, sold all of his Toronto Maple Leafs memorabilia to buy a plane ticket.

In the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Adam Oake, a Canadian with no prior military training, sold all of his Toronto Maple Leafs memorabilia to buy a plane ticket.

Speaking to CTV National News from a secret military training location in western Ukraine, Oake recalled watching the news of Russia’s invasion back in February 2022 and feeling compelled to get involved.

“Seeing how many innocent people were being brutalized, I couldn’t stay home knowing that I could do something to help,” said Oake.

Two months ago, he joined Ukraine’s 25th Airborne Brigade. In the coming weeks, he’ll be deployed into battle for the first time as a drone operator.

The 34-year-old Toronto native first spoke to CTV News in the summer of 2022, while he was in Ukraine volunteering as an aid worker with an international NGO. He spoke again with CTV News when he returned to Canada in January of 2023 as he tried to decompress from the trauma he’d endured delivering food and medicine to the front lines.

Now, more than a year and a half later, speaking from a dark tent, Oake says he’s willing to sacrifice his life in an effort to help Ukraine win what has now become a war of attrition.

“I've totally accepted the possibility that I will most likely be wounded. And while it’s unlikely, I could be killed. There is that possibility as well.”