“I have to do this now”

His voice on the phone sounds calm. Anton, whose real name is different, 30 years old, with a North German accent, weighs the words before he speaks. “My goal is to come back to Germany – hopefully in one piece,” he says and pauses. “That’s the plan.” On Friday afternoon, Anton, who now lives in Brandenburg, wants to leave Berlin with other comrades-in-arms for the Ukraine. First to Poland, then across the border to Lviv. There, Ukraine is training foreign volunteers to fight against Russia and is setting up volunteer battalions. “As far as I know, we are trained there for one or two days on the weapon,” says Anton.