Borkovský joined the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1915 and fought against Russia during the First World War.[3] Between 1918 and 1920 he fought in the Ukrainian War of Independence and also became involved in the Russian Civil War, first as part of the White Army and then for the opposing Red Army.[2][3] Borkovský was one of a large number of Ukrainians who escaped the war to Czechoslovakia in 1920.[3] He spent the next year interned in a number of camps at Holešov, Liberec and Josefov before being released. Borkovský found that his previous education was not recognised by the Czechoslovak authorities so he had to attend grammar school again at Josefov from which he graduated in 1925.[2]