Tory MP’s former Royal Marine son tells how he dragged fellow British fighter to safety in Ukraine after his leg was blown up by a mine as they battle Putin’s forces
- Tory MP’s son dragged fellow Brit to safety after soldier’s leg blown up by mine
- Former Royal Marine Ben Grant, 30, dragged his comrade to safety in Kharkiv
- Ex-Grenadier Guardsman Dean Arthur’s rescue was filmed on a helmet camera
- Former soldier Grant is the son of Conservative MP for Maidstone Helen Grant
A Tory MP’s son who is fighting in Ukraine helped a fellow British volunteer soldier escape Russian fire after his leg was blown up by a mine.
Former Royal Marine Ben Grant, 30, dragged his comrade to safety as mortars and artillery were fired towards them in woodland north of Kharkiv earlier in May, with the rescue filmed on a helmet-mounted camera.
The former Royal Marine, who is the son of Conservative MP Helen Grant, said he was ‘terrified’ but focused on getting former Grenadier Guardsman Dean Arthur out of danger.
He told The Telegraph: ‘What was so scary was being so limited by trying to carry someone – I can’t pull my weapon up while there are attack helicopters overhead and tanks firing through the woods.
‘It was unreal – I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life.’
He added: ‘Trying to do this [first aid] mid-firefight while there are Russians shooting over us and around us is just so difficult’.
A Tory MP’s son who is fighting in Ukraine helped a fellow British volunteer soldier escape Russian fire after his leg was blown up by a mine
Former Royal Marine Ben Grant, 30, (pictured arriving in Ukraine) dragged his comrade to safety as mortars and artillery were fired towards them in woodland north of Kharkiv earlier in May, with the rescue filmed on a helmet-mounted camera
The former Royal Marine, who is the son of Conservative MP Helen Grant, said he was ‘terrified’ but focused on getting former Grenadier Guardsman Dean Arthur (pictured) out of danger
There is heavy fighting in Kharkiv as Russian forces concentrate on the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine
Russia has stepped up its attacks in the Donbas region in the east of of Ukraine, an area that is more pro-separatist than the rest of the country
Mr Grant (pictured with his mother) left for Ukraine in March, joining a number of Brits who were heading to aid in the country’s war efforts
Mr Grant, an Afghanistan veteran who has been in Ukraine since March, told the newspaper that his foreign volunteer unit had been gearing up for an assault on a Russian-held target when they were spotted by drones and ambushed.
Mr Arthur knelt on a landmine ‘which has blown half of his leg off’, Mr Grant said.
In the dramatic footage, Mr Grant can be heard shouting to his comrades: ‘We’ve got to move now or we’re gonna die.’
The team is seen carrying Mr Arthur through the undergrowth before lying him down to tend to his wound and tighten his tourniquet as bullets fly over their heads.
Mr Arthur, 42, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, said: ‘It was excruciating pain, with rounds incoming’.
He added that he was ‘lucky’ to have escaped alive.
‘This type of camaraderie is only forged in these situations. If the coin was flipped, it was one of those guys, I would have got them out.’
Mr Arthur’s leg was saved by doctors, and he is in hospital in Kyiv where he said his injury is ‘healing great’.
Father-of-three Grant, a veteran of Afghanistan, said his decision to leave to fight was made without the knowledge of his mother, who represents Maidstone and is Boris Johnson’s special envoy on girls’ education.
‘I haven’t been sent, nothing to do with the Government, nothing to do with my mother,’ he told the Guardian. ‘Just want to make that clear, completely off my own back, I decided to do this. I didn’t even tell my mum, but it is what it is.’
Mr Grant quit the Royal Marines after admitting to assaulting two men in a nightclub after they shouted racial slurs – with a judge sparing him from immediate punishment due to him being provoked.
The clip shows a launcher firing at an armoured vehicle, which takes damage and is understood to later explode
A Conservative MP’s former Royal Marine son is part of a foreign volunteer team which took down a Russian transporter during a dramatic battle in Ukraine
He is also part of a foreign volunteer team that took down a Russian transporter during a dramatic battle in Ukraine.
The BTR was badly damaged and exploded following attacks from what appeared to be American, British and potentially Canadian volunteers, with Mr Grant among the heroic team, according to the i paper.
Video shared on social media showed the group of soldiers face off with the armoured carrier.
After being hit by the foreign volunteers’ launchers, the BTR – understood to be Russian – was reportedly damaged by unfired ammunition exploding.
The incredible bodycam footage shows the 30-year-old preparing to take out one of Vladimir Putin’s BTR armoured vehicles from a forest on the frontline.
A Russian transporter was badly damaged and exploded following attacks from what appeared to be American, British and potentially Canadian volunteers
After being hit by the foreign volunteers’ launchers, the BTR – understood to be Russian – was reportedly damaged by unfired ammunition exploding
The clip shows a squad of approximately four men, which included British and American special forces veterans, sneaking through the undergrowth before Mr Grant is heard shouting: ‘Shoot now!’
As volunteers get ready to launch the missile, he warns: ‘Mind the back-blast.’
Another fighter is then heard frantically shouting, ‘It’s facing towards us’.
The Government has advised all Britons not to travel to Ukraine and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has warned British soldiers could be prosecuted for desertion if they head to Ukraine to fight against Russian forces.
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