Aatu opens his suitcase at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport to reveal a green military backpack, a bulletproof vest, a radiotelephone and the hymnbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.
The 23-year-old is one of three young men Yle interviewed at the airport. The men said they are travelling to Ukraine as volunteers to join the country's defence forces in their fight against invading Russian troops.
"Of course it is scary and thrilling. But I am ready for anything. If I wasn't, it would not have been worth leaving," Aatu declares.
He is accompanied by Keke, 26, who is also flying to Ukraine. Yle has omitted the men's names and details regarding their flights to protect their identity. The third young man did not wish to give a statement to the media.
Keke says he knows of " eight to twenty people" who are leaving Finland to fight alongside Ukraine. He is the administrator of a social media community consisting of volunteers who exchange information about topics such as equipment, travel routes and where to find medical supplies in the country.
According to Keke, with a growing number of people interested in the cause, the group draws new members every day.
"There are many willing to join, but they have doubts about procuring equipment there. We will be able to ensure [if equipment is available] early this week," he states.
Volunteers want to "help" Ukrainians
Keke and Aatu plan to get to the Ukrainian border via Warsaw, Poland. Neither has visited Ukraine or participated in international peacekeeping operations. Both say they are going to Ukraine "to help."
Keke reveals that he has written letters and a will in case he does not return. "If the worst happens, it will have been for a good cause," he states.
When asked if he would be willing to kill Russian soldiers, Keke responds "Unfortunately. But I am trying to look at it this way: I am not going there to kill, I am going there to help."
There is a widespread belief among those seeking to join the war effort that foreign volunteers will not be sent to the front line, but will serve as force protection, that is, helping protect soldiers, civilians, facilities and equipment from threats.
However, there is no data to confirm this. Additionally, sources indicate that Ukraine has turned some volunteers away due to a shortage of equipment.
Keke says he has been following the developments in Ukraine since before the Russian invasion began. According to him, the decision to volunteer was an easy one, although he was advised against it by a close friend.
"They said: You're not going. To this day, I've received messages telling me not to go. But I will go."
Aatu indicates that he has been interested in helping Ukrainians since Russia occupied Crimea in 2014. He was a minor at the time.
"I want to do something significant with my life. Now I don't have a weird, fundamentally boring wage earner's life," he adds.
An estimated twenty Finns have fought on both sides of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine since it began in 2014.
Ukraine calls on foreign volunteers to join fight
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly called on foreign volunteers to join the fight against Russian troops.
According to The Kyiv Independent, the country is assembling an International Legion, a military force comprising voluntary fighters from various countries.
Zelensky has stated that 16,000 international volunteers have already signed up to defend Ukraine. According to international media outlets, foreign fighters are coming in from countries across the globe, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Thailand, South Africa and European states.
Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs has said that it has no information regarding how many people from Finland have left to join the fight in Ukraine.
"The Foreign Ministry's travel bulletin recommends leaving Ukraine immediately. The ministry is highly limited in its ability to assist Finns in the war zone," ministry representatives told Yle in an email.
According to a report by Helsingin-Sanomat (in Finnish), the Finnish Defence Forces do not recommend or advise Finns to apply to fight for a foreign cause.
Ideological motives
Not much is known about foreign fighters travelling to Ukraine at this stage, as the conflict is still in its infancy, according to Juha Saarinen, avisiting researcher at EGMONT–the Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels.
Saarinen suggests that the majority of foreign fighters in Ukraine seem to be from Eastern Europe and countries that once belonged to the Soviet Union. By his estimates, generally about one-fifth of armed conflicts interest or attract foreign volunteers.
In many cases, volunteers are drawn into the conflict due to a perceived shared identity or ideology. Saarinen said he believes fighters could now be united either by a common desire to defend Ukraine or to wage war against Russia.
"For ideological reasons, they may feel that they have a shared identity with the Ukrainians. It may be based, for example, on the view that the West is now under an existential threat, or that their European or Slavic brothers are under attack," he explains.
Keke, who says that he did not get any sleep the night before he left for Ukraine, cautions potential volunteers against making a rash decision.
"Rethink [the decision] two or three times. Because this is not a game. It is far from being a game."
When asked how many times he considered the consequences before making his own decision, however, Keke responds "Once."
