{"id":11730,"date":"2022-03-05T20:13:18","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T20:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians"},"modified":"2022-03-05T21:00:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T21:00:42","slug":"ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians","title":{"rendered":"Ex-soldier from Ballymena travelling to join Ukraine fight against invading Russians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>A Ballymena man and former soldier has spoken of why he is travelling to Ukraine to fight against the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the Ballymena Guardian, Alan McCroary (33) said this is not the first time he has travelled to fight alongside Ukranian troops.<\/p>\n

Posting updates on his Instagram page, one photo appears to show him in army fatigues with Ukranian colours and AK-47 assault rifle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spent seven years in the Irish Guards as an anti-tank Javelin specialist. I left the army in 2011,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Ukraine in 2015 when the war in Donbass broke out. I fought with the Georgian Legion until 2017 when the first major ceasefire took place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I moved to Thailand. In 2019 I worked for the Gambian PIU in West Africa training the President\u2019s body Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that he had been living in Tanzania when he started to hear rumours about the situation in Ukraine.\u201cI\u2019m going back out this weekend through Poland again joining the Georgian Legion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 16,000 foreigners have volunteered to fight for his country. In an emotional video appeal, he said the \u201cinternational legion\u201d of 16,000 foreign volunteers is joining \u201cthe defence of Ukraine, Europe and the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Visa requirements for foreign volunteers have also been lifted temporarily for those wishing to fight against Russian forces.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. A Ballymena man and former soldier has spoken of why he is travelling to Ukraine to fight against the Russian invasion. In an interview with the Ballymena Guardian, Alan McCroary (33) said this is not the first time he has travelled to fight alongside Ukranian troops. Posting updates on his Instagram page, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,9],"tags":[2355,2361,5067,260,5066],"class_list":["post-11730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-miscellaneous","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-ex-soldier","tag-gambia","tag-russians"],"yoast_head":"\nEx-soldier from Ballymena travelling to join Ukraine fight against invading Russians - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Ballymena man and former soldier has spoken of why he is travelling to Ukraine to fight against the Russian invasion. ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-soldier from Ballymena travelling to join Ukraine fight against invading Russians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Ballymena man and former soldier has spoken of why he is travelling to Ukraine to fight against the Russian invasion. ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-05T20:13:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-05T21:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/03\/img-6223cf5bae78b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"641\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ex-soldier from Ballymena travelling to join Ukraine fight against invading Russians\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-05T20:13:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-05T21:00:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians\"},\"wordCount\":251,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/03\/img-6223cf5bae78b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Ex-soldier\",\"Gambia\",\"Russians\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/ex-soldier-from-ballymena-travelling-to-join-ukraine-fight-against-invading-russians\",\"name\":\"Ex-soldier from Ballymena travelling to join Ukraine fight against invading Russians - 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