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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mad Weera" data-source="post: 29699933" data-attributes="member: 552459">Despite the deaths of Sri Lankans in Ukraine, many others are willing to take their places on the Russian front lines, according to retired and current members of Sri Lanka’s military.“At least my wife and children will get compensation if I die on the battlefield. At least they will have a better life in Russia. They can travel to Russia and get citizenship,” a retired Sri Lankan soldier, frustrated with his living conditions, told Al Jazeera, speaking on condition of anonymity.A resident of Anuradhapura, about 200km (120 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, he said he was less worried about the prospect of losing his life by joining the Russian army than he was about the economic hardships in Sri Lanka.A serving Sri Lankan soldier also told Al Jazeera that he would consider deserting his post if he had an opportunity to join the Russian military.“I know it is dangerous but I have no other option,” said the soldier who said he made just 20,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($65) to live on each month after the government made deductions for taxes and other purposes.Unlike previous conflicts, such as the Spanish Civil War when people from around the world volunteered to fight against the spread of fascism, those joining the fight in Ukraine are doing so primarily for money, said Gamini Viyangoda, a Sri Lankan writer, political analyst and columnist.“Many prominent writers and intellectuals such as George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway joined the Republicans to fight against Franco during the civil war in Spain. They did it for a cause, not for money,” Viyangoda said. Hemingway’s classic For Whom the Bell Tolls captures the war he observed in Spain, though he did not actually fight in it.“But in Sri Lanka it is different,” Viyangoda said.“During Sri Lanka’s Civil War, a vast majority of those who joined the military were from poverty-ridden families. The whole purpose was to find employment,” he said, referring to the bloody conflict between the Sri Lankan army and Tamil separatists from 1983 to 2009 that the United Nations estimates killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people.“Joining the Russian military is an extension of that trend. They think they’ll get compensation even if they die on the battlefield. It is purely for economic purposes, due to current economic hardships.”Sri Lankans have also died fighting for Ukraine’s freedom.In December Captain Ranish Hewage, who commanded a special unit of fighters, and MM Priyantha and Rodney Jayasinghe – two other Sri Lankan men – were killed fighting against Russian forces. Hewage was buried on December 15 with several Ukrainian soldiers at Mlynov, 400km (240 miles) east of Kyiv but the bodies of the other two Sri Lankans were never recovered.About 20 other Sri Lankans who were serving with the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine left the unit after Hewage’s death, according to Lahiru Hathurusinghe, 25, who carried injured Ranish Hewage for several kilometres despite his own injuries. Hathurusinghe, who deserted from the Sri Lanka army to fight for Ukraine, is believed to be the only Sri Lankan still attached to the Ukrainian side in the war with Russia.Treated for the injuries he suffered along with Nipuna in late February, Senaka has now been sent back to the barren wastelands of Russia’s front line in Donetsk.There is no way out, Senaka told Al Jazeera through voice messages on WhatsApp.“I don’t know what will happen to Nipuna’s body or whether he’ll receive any compensation,” Senaka said.Another former Sri Lankan soldier is with Senaka now: Neither wants to be involved in the war any more. But they feel they have no other option but to stay, due to their contracts. “We only have two of us now. Nobody else would help us,” he told Al Jazeera.Back in Sri Lanka, Wasanthi is grappling with unanswered questions.With no official communication from Russian authorities, Wasanthi has asked Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for information about the whereabouts and status of her husband.“I don’t know what to do or what to believe,” she told Al Jazeera.It has already been about two weeks since she approached the ministry but she has not heard back from them so far, she said. Last weekend, she went to a horoscope reader, who told her that her husband was not well, but was still alive.“I still can’t believe that he isn’t alive. I don’t want to think that he is no longer with us.”*Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals and due to security reasons.Aljazeera</blockquote>

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