When Kremlin forces invaded Ukraine in February many expected a short and crushing victory for the aggressors.
Onlookers around the world were aghast as armoured vehicle columns stretching miles trundled across the border bringing strife and devastation. A dark dawn of tyranny loomed in Ukraine, with dire predictions forecasting the rapid fall of Kyiv.
Instead, Russian forces met determined resistance from Ukrainian troops and the foreign volunteer fighters who packed their bags and headed to the warzone to fight alongside them.
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One of them was ‘Matt’ from the North West of England, who was “boots on the ground” in Ukraine in early March not longer than a week after the invasion began and only a few days after the international legion formed.
'Matt', not his real name, told the ECHO the motive was straightforward - “it’s better to fight them now on a different border than our own”, comparing Putin’s attempts to seize territory to Hitler and a signal of graver ambitions to not stop with Ukraine.
A week of physical training (PT) followed and some military basics to filter out anyone whose skills weren’t “up to scratch”.
Matt’s unit was assigned to the National Guard to carry out scouting missions behind enemy lines near Kyiv and to collect information on Russian artillery positions and movements before heading back in radio silence to avoid detection to relay the crucial details to the defenders so they could return accurate artillery fire.
Hampered by a lack of equipment - night vision kit in particular - the team had to complete round trips of 20 kilometres during the day making use of whatever they could, embracing an ethos of “adapt, improvise and try to overcome the problems”.
He said: “We were working with the Ukrainian artillery up in Kyiv where we were based. Our job was to go out and scout and go out into enemy territory.
“We would go out and scout and see where their artillery was, their priority targets. We would hike back on foot. We couldn’t use any communications. The communications could be traced including radio. We would get eyes on the artillery and the artillery would fire back. We were trying to do them (the missions) as quick as possible in the day.
“We lacked in night vision - we were trying to do it all in one day and must have hiked 20km, 10km into enemy territory and back.”
Asked whether they had any “contacts” along the way, Matt said they were vulnerable to artillery and relied on luck not to be hit as shells landed metres away and at times had to defend themselves “in retreat”.
They were near-sitting ducks to BMPs, a type of small Russian infantry vehicle with a mounted cannon that looks like a tank, and mobile artillery would enter the woods and fire at his unit.
He said: “We had BMP fire at us and the rounds landing five metres from us.”
Ukrainians he fought alongside impressed him, as he told the ECHO: “Well, we had civilians with us and the people who had signed up, they had signed up to protect their homeland. Those guys were completely incredible. They were pushing them back every chance they got.”
Ukraine’s people in turn were abundant in their gratitude to foreign fighters such as Matt.
He said: “We had children still in Kyiv who had come quite close to the front line to donate cookies - we had mums cooking just for us with whatever they had. I’ve got notes from the children. Every Ukrainian would come up to you and shake your hands and say ‘slava Ukraini!’
The “turning point” that stands out to him was with the destruction of a massive invading column north of Kyiv.
Ukraine, together with foreign fighters such as Matt, was able to push Russia back until it retreated and refocused on efforts in the east instead.
During the defence of Kyiv he also passed through the now-notorious scene of a Russian massacre of Ukrainians in the city of Bucha.
Matt’s unit was later re-deployed but he was unable to discuss details due to the ongoing situation.
He said: “What seemed to be the turning point is when we blew the column up, when that was destroyed, that was in the news.
“We can’t say whether that was us, everyone was working together. It cut off a lot of supplies. The Russian soldiers didn’t have food.
“They were getting delivered rotten potatoes, the Russian lines were covered in vodka bottles. We were told the Russians were drunk.
“The turning point was when that column was destroyed and they started to lose morale.”
Instead of facing what they expected to be more like a professional army, it was “more like a band of guys who had no idea of what they were doing”.
Five hundred supposed Spetsnaz special forces units also turned out to be replacements rather than the real deal.
There were still issues to look out for including Russian money bribing some Ukrainians to give up information and the foreign troops had to guard their tongues.
The North West volunteer, who has a military background, said there was no craving for “glory”, but he was conscious of the difference made by himself and other foreign volunteers, observing that when they arrived “the whole map was in Russian positions - nearly everything was red, they were everywhere”, but that changed in the coming seven weeks, and “now the map is totally clear, we’ve got patrols running all the way to the border”.
He said: “You know, we got thanked by a lad for saving at least a squadron of guys. We know we made some difference, we definitely made some difference in Kyiv, we can’t go into the other stuff. All the guys definitely made a difference. We didn’t go over to hunt glory, to take pictures, we went purely to help.”
Having returned home, he said: “I think I’m done for now, I’m going to help in other ways. The team I was with, we suffered some losses. A lot of guys, a lot were coming from Afghanistan and Iraq and saying ‘this is nothing like we’ve fought before because you’re fighting artillery.
“You can’t shoot, you have to sit, wait and hope it doesn’t land on your head. I keep in touch with many of the people from the National Guard. They were adamant, ‘if you fight with us, you’re brothers with us’. At the time we were looking at their back and they were looking at ours. Everyone was fighting as equals. They appreciated the fact we were there to defend not our homes but theirs.”
Official advice from Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is for Britons not to volunteer to fight in Ukraine unless they have military experience.
