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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ed McConnell

British-led Ukraine unit blasts Russian position with £80,000 guided missile

This is the moment a Brit-led army unit in Ukraine launched a missile at a Russian position.

Crouched down behind a grassy bank two members of international voluntary force the Dark Angels lock on to an armoured vehicle and fire the Javelin anti-tank rocket.

It shoots up before looping down on to the vehicle's turret in Oleksandrivka, Kherson province, southern Ukraine.

Gun fire then rings out as the four-man squad runs off.

Led by ex-Para Daniel Burke the group had picked their way through bomb-blasted buildings on a daredevil mission to recover the body of a friend's ex-husband and five missiles in his van.

Britain has sent 200 of the anti-tank rockets to Ukraine (Facebook)

The Ukrainians have been given thousands of the 2.5km-range Javelins by Britain and the US.

The group were given one of the £80,000 rockets by troops from Ukraine’s 28th Brigade.

The moment the guided weapon is fired is caught on the body cam of Brit student Sam Newey, from Birmingham, who is fighting in Ukraine despite having no previous military experience.

The Dark Angels unit fires a Javelin missile at Russian forces in Kherson, Ukraine (Facebook)

The June 9 raid began after the Dark Angels drove to the edge of no man's land with a Ukrainian escort.

Burke told a Sun reporter who met him at the unit's HQ: “When we reached the ridge we could see the body and the van were overlooked by Russians.

“It would have been suicidal to go down there. But we could see a Russian armoured vehicle in the houses.”

The four-man Dark Angels team advances on the Russian position (Facebook)

Kherson is occupied by Russia at the moment but yesterday a car bomb killed Dmitry Savluchenko, a member of the Russian-imposed administration.

The Kremlin called the attack "an act of terror".

Burke, 35, a former private in 3 Para, left the Army in 2009 having served in Afghanistan and worked as a builder until 2017's Manchester Arena terror attack inspired him to travel to Syria to fight IS alongside the Kurdish YPG.

Burke, of Wythenshawe, in Manchester, returned from the middle eastern country only to be charged with terror himself but the prosecution would offer no evidence.

Kherson is currently occupied by Russia (Facebook)

He set up the unpaid Dark Angels to deliver humanitarian aid and provide training to Ukrainian troops.

Russian propaganda falsely claims they are far-right foreign mercenaries..

Their ranks include a German bartender;. former Green Jacket soldier Mark Ayres, 49, who spent six years in prison after leaving the elite unit; and an ex-US Marine sergeant.

Four, including Burke, are former YPG fighters, including a French pizza shop worker and former US Marine.

Ukrainian commander, Major Vadim, who is responsible for 700 men, said the volunteers are "a huge morale boost to his men".

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