Ukrainian actor and musician Roman Matsiyta has played soldiers in movies, but now, he’s taking up real arms following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Matsiyta starred in The Narrow Bridge, a critically acclaimed Amazon Prime drama in which his character’s life changes drastically when invaders attack his country.

“I never thought I would be acting like this in real life,” Matsiya told the New York Post, standing next to sandbags piled outside of the residential buildings in the heart of Kyiv, where he filmed just a couple of years prior. “But our military needs all of us.”

The Narrow Bridge was shot on location near Kyiv by director Boris Kvashnev. In the movie, Matsiyta’s character, Kiril, is an artist who swaps his paintbrush for a rifle. In real life, Matsiyta said it was not hard to trade his art for war.

WATCH: RUSSIAN TV HACKED BY ANONYMOUS, AIRING FOOTAGE OF WAR IN UKRAINE

“I woke up to the sound of explosions, and everyone knew it had begun, and I was ready to fight,” Matsiyta said. “Immediately, I went out to find out how I could sign up to fight. There were many people like myself trying to be useful somehow or somewhere. After several days, we were accepted into the Territorial Defenses. We received our weapons and went forth to support however we could.”

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The Territorial Defense Forces were founded in 2014 and have reportedly reached nearly 2 million recruits since Russia invaded nearly two weeks ago.

Original Location: Reel to Real: Ukrainian actor joins fight against Russia

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