(Source)
Tung Nguyen, a Vietnamese-born man who moved to Chernigov to join his parents when he turned 18, returned to the front lines to defend his homeland from the Russian invasion despite being wounded twice in the line of duty. Tung, who studied and worked as a fitness trainer and bodybuilder in Kiev, was granted citizenship after winning the All-Ukraine championship in 2019.
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Defending his fatherland: “Ukraine has given me a lot – I studied here, worked here, I married a Ukrainian. I can’t even say it’s my second homeland at this point, it’s just my homeland,” said Tung, who started out as a volunteer delivering food and medicine to Chernihiv before enlisting in the Ukrainian army. The guard“Before the war started on a large scale, I didn’t know many Vietnamese people, but now they support me very much. Many Vietnamese people wrote me messages of support, people brought food to the hospital,” he added, referring to how the community rallied behind him after he was wounded in battle in May 2023 and December 2023.
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They were not prepared: Many of the 100,000 Vietnamese living in Ukraine were reportedly caught by surprise when Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. A Vietnamese citizen living in Kharkiv, home to one of Ukraine’s largest Vietnamese enclaves, recalled Radio Free Asia Vietnamese Service at the time how Ambassador Nguyen Hong Thach assured them that there would be no war between Ukraine and Russia, as the embassy was closely monitoring the situation. “The Vietnamese government’s efforts to protect its citizens here are really slow and ineffective,” the person said.
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