KRAKOW, POLAND – The Daily Caller sat down with a U.S. veteran and member of an organization evacuating people out of Ukraine to discuss why so many American volunteers are signing up to volunteer and fight in the war.
“This is the first Instagram war,” Sean Lee, operations officer for Save Our Allies, told the Daily Caller.
“Young people are opening their Instagram in the United States and seeing the destruction and the violence in Ukraine, and have a visceral reaction to want to help,” he said. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: We Interviewed Americans Going Into War Zone In Ukraine. Here Are Their Plans)
Ukraine is easier to get to compared to Afghanistan and Iraq, plus American volunteers don’t like Russia’s aggression and sometimes seek adventurism, Lee said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s rhetoric, the inspiring videos from Ukrainian soldiers and the footage of the atrocities of the war are also contributing factors, according to Lee.
“You have a charismatic leader, you have a very strong and charismatic population who’s very passionate about what they’re fighting for and then you have this open source and almost live news feed of Instagram that’s fanning those flames,” he said.
Lee said Americans that are signing up to fight in Ukraine are needed, but hopes that they didn’t come to that “decision lightly.” (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: How Evacuating Afghanistan Is Different From Ukraine, According To A Veteran That Did Both)
“This is not Iraq, this is not Afghanistan. This is a different war, and unless you’re older than me, you probably didn’t train for it,” he said.
Lee and his team at Save Our Allies are evacuating those that can’t get out of Ukraine by themselves, like children, elderly and disabled people. Save Our Allies was also behind evacuating Fox News Journalist Benjamin Hall when he was severely injured by Russian shelling.