A former Chilean police officer sold a truck he worked on and joined the Ukrainian army

From Iquique, located 1,700 kilometers from Santiago, to the Ukrainian border with Poland arrived the Chilean who is fighting alongside the international military legion. He claims that he bought his ticket by selling a truck, which allowed him to have the money.

It is more than a month ago that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, decided to invade Ukraine with all the military weapons at his disposal. Tension that grows every day, so, President Volodymyr Zelensky made the public appeal to anyone who wants to join the Ukrainian army was welcome. This was done by Luis Lagos, the Iquiqueño who traveled more than 12,000 kilometers from Chile.

In conversation with the Star of Iquique, Lagos said that he has already helped rescue Ukrainian citizens from collapses in the face of Russian attacks, has seen people die and that his motivations are personal.

“I live in Iquique and what I did was sell a truck,” Lagos said. Also that the Yavoriv base where he was as part of the “Foreign Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine” was attacked. “It was bombed and 30 people died, and you can't explain the impression of seeing planes and the sound of explosions.”

“No 3D or surround movie is the same as the sound you hear, especially if this is close to where you are,” added the soldier.

“For me it is a pride to be an Iquique and a privilege to be here in Ukraine. I didn't come to a party or to Lollapalooza here in Ukraine. It's a completely serious situation, last night they attacked a camp nearby where there were a hundred people killed.”

As part of what he has witnessed the war, Lagos says that “here the Russians take a city they shoot to kill and they don't care who it is, if it is a mother with a child, they shoot to kill”. It is not the war that is thought by some Chileans or what we sometimes tend to think of a melee confrontation looking at the enemy. “What is there is here is that missiles are thrown from Belarus or Russia thousands of kilometers away,” he explained.

Lagos explained that his only motivation is to help. “I thought that like all people I made mistakes, and I gained a lot of experience in various things and studies. And I never knew what I was going to apply them for. Now I know what it was useful for, and life is very wise. It gives opportunities,” he said.

In the same vein, I add that: “Many people are happy buying a Mercedes Benz, but my happiness is fulfilled already as a 46-year-old man, and I know when to know that I am a contribution. I am the only Chilean in the Legion and I feel proud,” he said.

Regarding her family, she explained that her mother “works as a teacher and counselor, she always knew how to guide me and my brother well in how one should channel being a useful person”. “My father, Hernán Lagos Cosgrove, who passed away, was a physical education teacher and helped many young people.”

The ex-carabiner maintains constant contact with his family from the area in which he is located.

The member of the Legion assured that “it is not a war because there was no previous incident, it is an invasion. Ukrainians are fighting fiercely, controls on all corners in cities are exhaustive, even violent. If you are a foreigner, you can no longer travel in cities.”

On how he did it to travel, he noted that, “A day or two days before I went to the Ukrainian embassy in Santiago and they gave me the contacts. I paid for my ticket. I know Europe well, I was in some countries, but it was easier for me.” The former policeman lived in Germany and that stay helped him to acclimatize from the cold weather in Ukraine, a far cry from what is normally lived in Iquique in autumn, a current season that averages 20 degrees.

“I invite those who feel called, with a moral duty to do so, everyone can collaborate to help those who need it,” emphasizing anyone who wishes to join Zelensky's troops in fighting against Russia.

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