Foreign fighters in Ukraine have warned Kyiv will never fall to Russia and they claim Putin’s soldiers ‘won’t know what hit them’.
The outskirts of the Ukrainian capital has been pounded by artillery for days, with rockets destroying several residential blocks and a city bus yesterday.
One of the veterans who’ve come out of retirement to help out is ‘Wali’, an elite Canadian sniper who left behind a comfortable life in Quebec with a fiancée, one-year-old son and new career in IT.
A veteran of two Afghanistan tours with the Canadian Royal 22nd Regiment, Wali is now hunkered down in an abandoned Kyiv building armed with his .338 rifle.
‘If Putin really wants Kyiv he is going to have to pay a huge price,’ he told the Daily Mail.
‘Nobody wants the Russians here and everyone will resist. The damage we can do to them will be crazy.
‘They will lose so many lives it will become another Stalingrad. This is a huge, built-up city, not some village.
‘Looking out from where I am now I can see so many structures and buildings to shoot from, so many places to hide weapons and launch ambushes from. They won’t know what has hit them.’
British veteran Shane Matthews, who came out of retirement to join the war in Ukraine, echoed Wali’s words.
The former soldier said he has witnessed Russian shells ‘raining down’ on bridges, churches and schools and bombs falling ‘indiscriminately’.
Ever since arriving in the war-torn country, the experienced sniper has been teaching defence forces how to treat battlefield casualties as most of the frontline soldiers ‘are civilians’ who’ve ‘never held a rifle before’.
Speaking from the streets of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, Mr Matthews insisted the Ukrainian fighting spirit was second to none and they had been ‘absolutely hammering’ the invaders.
‘Apparently the Russians have got no defensive positions in Irpin so the Ukrainian boys are absolutely hammering them, which is good news,’ he said.
‘On another note, all signs point towards Irpin being pushed through by the Russians – convoy killers in place, everything is fortified to hell and I can safely say that a collapse of the city will not happen.
‘The guerrilla-style tactics being employed by the Ukrainians is something you simply cannot defend against, it’s like the Taliban on steroids.’
Despite the devastation he’s personally witnessed, Mr Matthews says his decision to head back into a conflict hotspot has been vindicated by the ‘war crimes’ he has bared witness to.
He added: ‘It is war crimes, out and out. It’s just reinforcing my perspective on why I am here.
‘I’m absolutely fine here at the moment. I’m in my element, if I’m honest. All in, I’m glad I’ve done it. It’s definitely been worth it.’
His comments come after reports that three British ex-special forces troops are feared dead after strikes on a military base close to the Polish border.
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Just like Wali – who did not wish to use his real name for the interview – and Mr Matthews, tens of thousands of foreign nationals have flocked to Ukraine in the last three weeks.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky even ordered a temporary lift on visas for foreign fighters and has taken to social media to actively encourage people with military experience to sign up.
Overnight, he published another video message addressing Russian troops directly, saying: ‘If you surrender to our forces, we will treat you the way people are supposed to be treated.’
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