Article contents to those who prefer not to visit the site:
A father who lives in the UK has been stopped from leaving Ukraine during the Russian invasion in case he is needed to fight – even though he says it is “not his place” to.
Peter Chumak told The Independent he wanted to return home to his wife and 12-year-old son in London, but instead has been left trapped in the country under siege without a way out.
The 39-year-old, who has lived in the UK for two decades, was in Ukraine attending family business when Russia launched their all-out invasion last week.
He headed to the border to return back home, but the journey took several hours longer than usual due to the mass of people also attempting to flee the attack.
By the time he arrived, it was too late: Ukraine had now banned men of military age from leaving the country.
“I’m not a coward. If someone was attacking England or someone was attacking my wife or my son, I would take a gun and go and fight,” he told The Independent.
“This is not the place for me to fight. I’m not going to get a gun and start shooting.”
The father added: “I hate what Russia is doing at the moment. I’m definitely against the war and the war that Putin is doing. But I just want to come back home and see my family.”
The Independent has set up a petition calling on the UK government to be at the forefront of the international community offering aid and support to those in Ukraine. To sign the petition click here.
Russia launched an attack on Ukraine by sea, air and land on Thursday after the threat had loomed for weeks. Since then, rocket strikes have fallen on cities and heavy fighting has taken place across the country.
In the first four days of the attack, Ukraine’s health ministry said more than 350 civilians – including 14 children – were killed.
On Monday, the United Nations estimated half a million people have fled across the border so far.
Mr Chumak was not one of them. He has tried to cross three times – but was turned back each one.
The 39-year-old said border officials told him: “You shouldn’t be here. You should be up front fighting for your homeland.”
The UK resident, who works in a hotel in London, said he tried to explain that even though he had a Ukranian passport, he did not live there and his wife and son were in England. “My life is elsewhere.”
“It is just a broad rule that all the men, regardless of the situation, are not allowed to cross the border. The scenes at the border when all the men been parted from their families, like wives and children … it has been horrific,” he said.
He spent three nights at the border trying to cross, during which time more and more people started turning up. Temperatures were about 5C and people would have to queue for several hours to use a petrol station toilet.
“The food started running out at the border,” he told The Independent. “I saw the body of a woman who literally died at the petrol station.”
Mr Chumak said he could not get any medicine when he started to fall ill – and ended up returning back to his parents’ home several hours inland to recover.
He will wait there and try and find a way to come back home to London “at the first opportunity”.
“It is just not my place to fight,” the father-of-one said.
His British wife, Nicola O’Donnell, told The Independent, she had been in touch with embassies and the Foreign Office to try and get her husband – who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK – back home, but had not had any luck so far.
“Everybody’s says he’s not British, there’s nothing we can do. They were not very helpful,” the 47-year-old, who met her husband while they were both working in Pizza Hut in Kensington, said.
She is now trying to stay positive for their 12-year-old son, who says he wants to “make his dad proud” in his football games. Mr Chumak manages his son’s football team.
The Foreign Office declined to comment. The British Embassy in Ukraine has been approached for comment.
No one should be forced to fight if they don’t want to, but also if they just let everyone leave the country would crumble.
I don’t know, it’s an awful experience
Noticeably:
> he had a Ukranian passport
So he is Ukrainian citizen, not British.
In my opinion, no matter where you live or for how long, as long as you carry a country’s passport, you are obliged to serve that country in a case of emergency.
plenty of non combat roles in the military, medical, logistics transport etc….
The article very carefully refers to him as a UK resident with a Ukrainian passport, somehow dancing around that he is a Ukrainian citizen.
>The UK resident, who works in a hotel in London, said he tried to explain that even though he had a Ukranian passport, he did not live there and his wife and son were in England. “My life is elsewhere.”
So he is Ukrainian.
>His British wife, Nicola O’Donnell, told The Independent, she had been in touch with embassies and the Foreign Office to try and get her husband – who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK – back home, but had not had any luck so far.
He’s not even a dual national, not looking good for him.
>“I’m not a coward. If someone was attacking England or someone was attacking my wife or my son, I would take a gun and go and fight,”
Hmm… Plenty of men in the Ukraine are in a similar boat, their wives and children are refugees in Poland etc.
>The 39-year-old, who has lived in the UK for two decades.
Wonder when he moved to the UK, before or after his national service?
Ukrainian citizen subject to Ukrainian rules and laws. How unexpected.
Might be nice of the article to actually make that fact clear, but eh, why let a particular focus on facts get in the way of a good story?
Judging by this comment section I sure as shit don’t hope Britain gets invaded anytime soon, country full of cowards.
“I’m not a coward. If someone was attacking England or someone was attacking my wife or my son, I would take a gun and go and fight,’
That’s the point, you’re meant to stay behind to fight to give the vulnerable time to flee to safety!, not to run past them just to save your own sorry a**se.
Some nice unhinged comments in here with no sympathy for this man, of course he shouldn’t have to fight, no one should
If you read the article, he has a UKRAINIAN passport so by default, he’s Ukrainian. And he’s within the age. It even says that on the British Passport – Consular Assistance
“A person who has dual nationality may be subject to the laws of the other countries”
Considering how Ukraine government said any men between 18-60 can’t leave. Same goes to him. And he ignored the warnings of the UK telling its nationals to get out of Ukraine. A bit of a toughie situation but there isn’t much he can do about it now
Wow the comments here are unbelievable. Why does some people think men are morally obligated to die and kill? Poor guy
Lots of people calling him a coward acting as if they’d all stay and fight if they were in his shoes. Most wouldn’t (or wouldn’t want to), not when the guns, bombs and death is right outside their door.
I’m more than happy to admit that if the UK were to be invaded, I’d be among the first to try and leave. While I do love this country, I love living more.
He’s got family in Ukraine, so he’s not willing to fight for them? I mean, if you don’t want to fight, by all means but to say it’s not your fight because you don’t live there is just wrong….
He’s a Ukrainian citizen living in Ukraine, who happens to have residency in a foreign country, why are they acting like a foreign citizen has been wrongfully caught up in it? I am a British citizen living in Britain, if I have residency in Spain, am I now somehow Spanish?
The guy is Ukrainian, he’s not a dual citizen.
Also, even if he was a Dual Citizen, he wouldn’t be absolved of mandatory service.
Check your British Passport
>Notes.
>6 – Dual Nationality
>British Nationals who are also nationals of another country can it be protected by Her Majesty’s Representatives against the authorities of that country. If, under the law of that country, they are liable for any obligation (such as ***military service***), the fact that they are British Nationals does not exempt them from it.
So even if he was British, we couldn’t exactly help him anyway.
He’s 39 and been here for 20 years apparently, which either means he was trained as a Ukrainian conscript, or he avoided it by moving abroad.
Apparently one of their ways around draft dodging is to deny passport applications due to a lack of military service, so presumably he served his time when he was younger or he had a “medical” reason to be absolved.
So it appears that he’s technically had military training, he’s not exactly a green FNG.
He had the chance to leave weeks ago.
Apparently he’s back at his parents place now, doesn’t say why he was there to begin with. Maybe they’re ill and he was looking after them? Maybe they’ve died and he was sorting out their estate? Maybe he decided he wanted to visit them before a potential war made it so he wasn’t able to do so?
Regardless, the writing has been on the wall for weeks. If he didn’t want to be caught there, he should have left weeks ago.
Conscription and reserve service are known factors over there – hell, former conscripts were being called up during the civil war in Donbas long before the Russians invaded (again), he either forgot or neglected to consider it.
That’s his fault.
You pays your money and you takes your choice.
This comment section is like the modern version of the white feathers of ww1
Easy to scorn someone for not wanting to be forced into fighting when the same demands are not being made of us
I don’t know, I get the impulse to look down on him because there are so many other men and women who are bravely signing up for the war effort but in his position I don’t know that I would be any different. He’s scared to die, and scared to be put in a position where he might have to make the choice to kill someone. Not being on the front line is no guarantee of safety, especially when Russia has been bombing children’s hospitals and orphanages. That’s a very understandable and human feeling to have.
And he has a family, with a 12 year old son. The thought that he doesn’t want to leave his son without a father has probably gone through his mind, and I can’t blame him for that either. I deeply admire the courage of the people who have signed up to fight but I sympathise with this guy too, and I just can’t find it in me to blame him for wanting to stay safe and go home to his family.
Aside from the fact that he’s ***not*** a UK resident (he’s actually a Ukrainian resident with a Ukrainian passport), no one should be forced to fight. That’s some serious WW2 conscription shit that doesn’t fly in today’s world.
The insanity of war has never been captured so well as Joseph Heller’s novel “Catch-22”.
23 comments
Article contents to those who prefer not to visit the site:
A father who lives in the UK has been stopped from leaving Ukraine during the Russian invasion in case he is needed to fight – even though he says it is “not his place” to.
Peter Chumak told The Independent he wanted to return home to his wife and 12-year-old son in London, but instead has been left trapped in the country under siege without a way out.
The 39-year-old, who has lived in the UK for two decades, was in Ukraine attending family business when Russia launched their all-out invasion last week.
He headed to the border to return back home, but the journey took several hours longer than usual due to the mass of people also attempting to flee the attack.
By the time he arrived, it was too late: Ukraine had now banned men of military age from leaving the country.
“I’m not a coward. If someone was attacking England or someone was attacking my wife or my son, I would take a gun and go and fight,” he told The Independent.
“This is not the place for me to fight. I’m not going to get a gun and start shooting.”
The father added: “I hate what Russia is doing at the moment. I’m definitely against the war and the war that Putin is doing. But I just want to come back home and see my family.”
The Independent has set up a petition calling on the UK government to be at the forefront of the international community offering aid and support to those in Ukraine. To sign the petition click here.
Russia launched an attack on Ukraine by sea, air and land on Thursday after the threat had loomed for weeks. Since then, rocket strikes have fallen on cities and heavy fighting has taken place across the country.
In the first four days of the attack, Ukraine’s health ministry said more than 350 civilians – including 14 children – were killed.
On Monday, the United Nations estimated half a million people have fled across the border so far.
Mr Chumak was not one of them. He has tried to cross three times – but was turned back each one.
The 39-year-old said border officials told him: “You shouldn’t be here. You should be up front fighting for your homeland.”
The UK resident, who works in a hotel in London, said he tried to explain that even though he had a Ukranian passport, he did not live there and his wife and son were in England. “My life is elsewhere.”
“It is just a broad rule that all the men, regardless of the situation, are not allowed to cross the border. The scenes at the border when all the men been parted from their families, like wives and children … it has been horrific,” he said.
He spent three nights at the border trying to cross, during which time more and more people started turning up. Temperatures were about 5C and people would have to queue for several hours to use a petrol station toilet.
“The food started running out at the border,” he told The Independent. “I saw the body of a woman who literally died at the petrol station.”
Mr Chumak said he could not get any medicine when he started to fall ill – and ended up returning back to his parents’ home several hours inland to recover.
He will wait there and try and find a way to come back home to London “at the first opportunity”.
“It is just not my place to fight,” the father-of-one said.
His British wife, Nicola O’Donnell, told The Independent, she had been in touch with embassies and the Foreign Office to try and get her husband – who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK – back home, but had not had any luck so far.
“Everybody’s says he’s not British, there’s nothing we can do. They were not very helpful,” the 47-year-old, who met her husband while they were both working in Pizza Hut in Kensington, said.
She is now trying to stay positive for their 12-year-old son, who says he wants to “make his dad proud” in his football games. Mr Chumak manages his son’s football team.
The Foreign Office declined to comment. The British Embassy in Ukraine has been approached for comment.
No one should be forced to fight if they don’t want to, but also if they just let everyone leave the country would crumble.
I don’t know, it’s an awful experience
Noticeably:
> he had a Ukranian passport
So he is Ukrainian citizen, not British.
In my opinion, no matter where you live or for how long, as long as you carry a country’s passport, you are obliged to serve that country in a case of emergency.
plenty of non combat roles in the military, medical, logistics transport etc….
The article very carefully refers to him as a UK resident with a Ukrainian passport, somehow dancing around that he is a Ukrainian citizen.
>The UK resident, who works in a hotel in London, said he tried to explain that even though he had a Ukranian passport, he did not live there and his wife and son were in England. “My life is elsewhere.”
So he is Ukrainian.
>His British wife, Nicola O’Donnell, told The Independent, she had been in touch with embassies and the Foreign Office to try and get her husband – who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK – back home, but had not had any luck so far.
He’s not even a dual national, not looking good for him.
>“I’m not a coward. If someone was attacking England or someone was attacking my wife or my son, I would take a gun and go and fight,”
Hmm… Plenty of men in the Ukraine are in a similar boat, their wives and children are refugees in Poland etc.
>The 39-year-old, who has lived in the UK for two decades.
Wonder when he moved to the UK, before or after his national service?
Ukrainian citizen subject to Ukrainian rules and laws. How unexpected.
Might be nice of the article to actually make that fact clear, but eh, why let a particular focus on facts get in the way of a good story?
Judging by this comment section I sure as shit don’t hope Britain gets invaded anytime soon, country full of cowards.
“I’m not a coward. If someone was attacking England or someone was attacking my wife or my son, I would take a gun and go and fight,’
That’s the point, you’re meant to stay behind to fight to give the vulnerable time to flee to safety!, not to run past them just to save your own sorry a**se.
Some nice unhinged comments in here with no sympathy for this man, of course he shouldn’t have to fight, no one should
If you read the article, he has a UKRAINIAN passport so by default, he’s Ukrainian. And he’s within the age. It even says that on the British Passport – Consular Assistance
“A person who has dual nationality may be subject to the laws of the other countries”
Considering how Ukraine government said any men between 18-60 can’t leave. Same goes to him. And he ignored the warnings of the UK telling its nationals to get out of Ukraine. A bit of a toughie situation but there isn’t much he can do about it now
Wow the comments here are unbelievable. Why does some people think men are morally obligated to die and kill? Poor guy
Lots of people calling him a coward acting as if they’d all stay and fight if they were in his shoes. Most wouldn’t (or wouldn’t want to), not when the guns, bombs and death is right outside their door.
I’m more than happy to admit that if the UK were to be invaded, I’d be among the first to try and leave. While I do love this country, I love living more.
He’s got family in Ukraine, so he’s not willing to fight for them? I mean, if you don’t want to fight, by all means but to say it’s not your fight because you don’t live there is just wrong….
He’s a Ukrainian citizen living in Ukraine, who happens to have residency in a foreign country, why are they acting like a foreign citizen has been wrongfully caught up in it? I am a British citizen living in Britain, if I have residency in Spain, am I now somehow Spanish?
The guy is Ukrainian, he’s not a dual citizen.
Also, even if he was a Dual Citizen, he wouldn’t be absolved of mandatory service.
Check your British Passport
>Notes.
>6 – Dual Nationality
>British Nationals who are also nationals of another country can it be protected by Her Majesty’s Representatives against the authorities of that country. If, under the law of that country, they are liable for any obligation (such as ***military service***), the fact that they are British Nationals does not exempt them from it.
So even if he was British, we couldn’t exactly help him anyway.
He’s 39 and been here for 20 years apparently, which either means he was trained as a Ukrainian conscript, or he avoided it by moving abroad.
Apparently one of their ways around draft dodging is to deny passport applications due to a lack of military service, so presumably he served his time when he was younger or he had a “medical” reason to be absolved.
So it appears that he’s technically had military training, he’s not exactly a green FNG.
He had the chance to leave weeks ago.
Apparently he’s back at his parents place now, doesn’t say why he was there to begin with. Maybe they’re ill and he was looking after them? Maybe they’ve died and he was sorting out their estate? Maybe he decided he wanted to visit them before a potential war made it so he wasn’t able to do so?
Regardless, the writing has been on the wall for weeks. If he didn’t want to be caught there, he should have left weeks ago.
Conscription and reserve service are known factors over there – hell, former conscripts were being called up during the civil war in Donbas long before the Russians invaded (again), he either forgot or neglected to consider it.
That’s his fault.
You pays your money and you takes your choice.
This comment section is like the modern version of the white feathers of ww1
Easy to scorn someone for not wanting to be forced into fighting when the same demands are not being made of us
I don’t know, I get the impulse to look down on him because there are so many other men and women who are bravely signing up for the war effort but in his position I don’t know that I would be any different. He’s scared to die, and scared to be put in a position where he might have to make the choice to kill someone. Not being on the front line is no guarantee of safety, especially when Russia has been bombing children’s hospitals and orphanages. That’s a very understandable and human feeling to have.
And he has a family, with a 12 year old son. The thought that he doesn’t want to leave his son without a father has probably gone through his mind, and I can’t blame him for that either. I deeply admire the courage of the people who have signed up to fight but I sympathise with this guy too, and I just can’t find it in me to blame him for wanting to stay safe and go home to his family.
Aside from the fact that he’s ***not*** a UK resident (he’s actually a Ukrainian resident with a Ukrainian passport), no one should be forced to fight. That’s some serious WW2 conscription shit that doesn’t fly in today’s world.
The insanity of war has never been captured so well as Joseph Heller’s novel “Catch-22”.
https://www.quotes.net/movies/catch-22_1919
The lack of empathy in this thread is remarkable.
This man was happy to retain his Ukrainian citizenship for 20 years, how bout he do his duty?
I absolutely guarantee there’s a bunch of comments in here from knobs who never seen the wrong end of a gun talking about how he should just fight bro
‘U.K. resident’
Right, so you’re a Ukrainian citizen. You had your chance to leave when the gov said get out and you chose to stay, live with the consequences.