Ivan Ishchenko volunteered to fight against invading Russian troops, but after a month of combat, he was willing to pay thousands of dollars and risk prison to flee the front.
"Before I went to war, I thought I was a superhero. But all heroism ends when people see (war) with their own eyes and realize that they don't belong there," Ishchenko, 30, said.
"I saw someone being shot near his spleen; the pain was crazy. Then I saw a severed head. It all built up... I didn't want to see anything else."