Veteran British sniper who came out of retirement to join Lads’ Army taking on Putin’s forces says Kyiv will never fall to the Russians because Ukrainians are fighting ‘like the Taliban on steroids’
- Shane Matthews said Kyiv will not fall as their guerrilla tactics are ‘absolutely hammering’ Putin’s forces
- Veteran British sniper came out of retirement to join the war in Ukraine after Russian troops invaded
- He shared images of the devastation of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, but predicted Ukraine would triumph
- Matthews compared to Ukrainians defending their country to ‘like the Taliban on steroids’
A veteran British sniper who came out of retirement to join the war in Ukraine has said Kyiv will not fall as their guerrilla tactics are ‘absolutely hammering’ Putin’s forces and they are defending their country ‘like the Taliban on steroids’.
Shane Matthews, who completed multiple tours of Afghanistan and Iraq as a Lance Corporal with the 2nd Battalion Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment, flew out to Poland before ‘thumbing lifts’ to the Ukrainian capital, where he has been helping to fortify the city and train civilians.
The ex-soldier said he has witnessed Russian shells ‘raining down’ on bridges, churches and schools as bombs fell ‘indiscriminately’, sharing harrowing photos of the devastation – but predicted that Ukraine would ultimately triumph.
Shortly after the war in Ukraine broke out, groups of men gathered outside the Ukrainian embassy in west London to answer comic-turned-wartime leader Volodymyr Zelensky’s call to arms for foreign fighters to join his country’s defence against Russia.
But lawyers have warned that Britons who fight in Ukraine could be prosecuted under UK terror laws – much like those who took arms for Kurdish militia forces against ISIS in Syria.
Speaking from the streets of Irpin, a district northwest of Kyiv, Matthews said: ‘These photos I have put up are of the “military targets” being attacked [by the Russians] today – military targets being a church, a two-storey school, a bridge… which was attacked as civilians were evacuating from the city.
‘I have just spoken to a chap whose dad was killed two days ago and today in the artillery strike that we were in just now, his son was killed. And this is “denazification”?
‘They are indiscriminately shelling every target in this city and the world’s just going to sit and watch this? It’s wrong – it’s a genocide. [they’re] war crimes.’
Shane Matthews, who completed multiple tours of Afghanistan and Iraq as a Lance Corporal with the 2nd Battalion Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment, flew out to Poland before ‘thumbing lifts’ to the Ukrainian capital
The ex-soldier said he has witnessed Russian shells ‘raining down’ on bridges, churches and schools as bombs fell ‘indiscriminately’, sharing harrowing photos of the devastation – but predicted that Ukraine would ultimately triumph
Speaking from the streets of Irpin, a district northwest of Kyiv, Matthews said: ‘These photos I have put up are of the “military targets” being attacked [by the Russians] today – military targets being a church, a two-storey school, a bridge… which was attacked as civilians were evacuating from the city’
A 19-year-old member of the Queen’s Guard, whose identity has not been revealed for security reasons, dropped his ceremonial duties as a Coldstream Guardsman and signed up for Ukraine’s International Legion of foreign volunteer fighters
Pictured, members of Ukraine’s international legion. Volunteers from the US, UK, Sweden, Lithuania and Mexico have joined
Pictured, volunteers from Portugal and Brazil in Ukraine army fatigues in the days following Putin’s invasion
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine – which he had anticipated would last only a few days with limited casualties – is now nearing its third week with heavy losses on both sides, as Moscow gives the first signs it could be willing to end the fighting by saying there has been ‘substantial progress’ in peace talks
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Matthews added that he had narrowly avoided being hit by artillery fire while drinking tea, writing: ‘We were sat in this lovely summer house, just about to drink tea, and about 50m through there [a wood block], 120mm artillery just started raining down.’
In recent days, the experienced sniper has been teaching Ukrainian defence forces how to treat battlefield casualties. Most of the forces heading to the front line ‘are civilians’ who ‘have never held a rifle before’, the former Lance Corporal added.
However, Matthews insisted the Ukrainians fighting spirit was second to none and they had been ‘absolutely hammering’ the Russians in Irpin.
‘The Ukrainian artillery was absolutely hammered the Russians while I was giving one of my medical lessons,’ he said. ‘Apparently the Russians have got no defensive positions in Irpin so the Ukrainian boys are absolutely hammering them, which is good news.’
Matthews added: ‘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.’
Around 20,000 volunteers from around the globe have already signed up to fight, with roughly 16,000 already on the ground in Ukraine, including a small contingent of Brits.
Many of them say their families ‘are worried but supportive’ of their decision. One of them, Ben Grant, who served in Iraq, flew home from the Middle Eastern country to the UK to see his wife and kids and then went straight from there to join the fight in Ukraine.
He said: ‘I hadn’t seen them for a while and basically said I’m going to Ukraine. Big shock. I feel a bit sorry to them to be fair. I know they were pretty upset but people need me here.’
Panic ripped through the Ministry of Defence last week following reports that four British soldiers who have gone AWOL plan on fighting for the Ukrainians.
A 19-year-old member of the Coldstream Guards regiment reportedly dropped his ceremonial duties as one of the prestigious Queen’s Guards in Windsor and signed up for Ukraine’s International Legion of foreign volunteer fighters.
He is feared to be among four British soldiers who have fled the country for the warzone, sparking panic in the British Army that Russia could use it as a chance to begin World War Three.
A military source said that 150 of former paratroopers were on their way to Poland. Several thousand people have volunteered to join the force, apparently including a group of SAS veterans eager to defend Ukraine.
According to The Mirror, the retired UK special forces soldiers volunteered for missions deep inside Ukraine to back up the country’s defence. The veterans, aged between 40 and 60, met to discuss signing up for the dangerous mission, backing up Ukrainians in combat.
Key to their operation is among them there are highly-trained snipers and experts in the use of anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles.
Russia’s military forces kept up their punishing campaign to capture Ukraine’s capital with fighting and artillery fire in Kyiv’s suburbs on Monday.
After an air strike on a military base near the Polish border brought the war dangerously close to NATO’s doorstep, peace talks raised hopes for progress in evacuating civilians from besieged Ukrainian cities and getting emergency supplies to areas without enough food, water and medicine.
Zelensky said in a new video address: ‘Everyone is waiting for news. We will definitely report in the evening.’
The negotiations taking place by video conference are the fourth round involving higher-level officials from the two countries and the first held in a week. The previous discussions took place in person in Belarus, and did not produce breakthroughs to end the fighting in Ukraine or lasting agreements on humanitarian routes.
‘Communication is being held, yet it’s hard,’ Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted along with a photo of the two sides meeting by video link.
Earlier, Podolyak said the negotiators would discuss ‘peace, ceasefire, immediate withdrawal of troops & security guarantees’.
People and medics help a wounded resident of a house destroyed by shelling as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues in Kyiv
A view of destruction after an apartment building was hit by Russian attack in Kyiv this morning, killing one civilian
A man holds his dead cat after heading back into his shelled apartment building which was struck by a Russian missile this morning
Firefighters use a ladder to evacuate a man from a residential building that was struck, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues in Kyiv
Desperate Putin throws everything at Kyiv as National Guard chief ally admits the war has not gone to plan: Artillery destroys housing block and civilian cheats death as missile blast just misses him
One of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies has said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not going as quickly as the Kremlin had wanted as the desperate leader continues his brutal assault on Kyiv by shelling an apartment block.
In the strongest public acknowledgement yet from Moscow that things were not going to plan, National Guard chief Viktor Zolotov blamed the slower than expected progress on what he said were far-right Ukrainian forces hiding behind civilians, an accusation repeatedly made by officials in Russia.
His comments appeared at odds with an assessment on Friday by Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu who told Putin that ‘everything is going according to plan’.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Kyiv with air strikes raining down on the city, while fighting and artillery fire rage around the suburbs.
Zolotov, who was once in charge of Putin’s personal security, said: ‘I would like to say that yes, not everything is going as fast as we would like.
‘But we are going towards our goal step by step and victory will be for us, and this icon will protect the Russian army and accelerate our victory.’
This morning’s assault on Kyiv saw one person killed, three hospitalised and nine treated at the scene after a bomb narrowly avoided a pedestrian.
Russian troops are edging closer to the capital and are keeping up their siege of the southern port city of Mariupol, where officials said nearly 2,200 people have been killed.
Another missile was intercepted above Kyiv but debris fell on the city, destroying a tram in more scenes of utter destruction.
Meanwhile two people were killed and seven were injured after Russian forces struck a plane factory near Kyiv, sparking a large fire.
Air raid alerts sounded in cities and towns all around the country overnight, from near the Russian border in the east to the Carpathian Mountains in the west, as fighting continued on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials said Russian forces shelled several suburbs of the capital, a major political and strategic target for their invasion.
Authorities in Ukraine said two people died and seven were injured after Russian forces struck a plane factory in Kyiv, sparking a large fire.
The Antonov factory is Ukraine’s largest aircraft manufacturing plant and is best known for producing many of the world’s biggest cargo planes.
Russian artillery fire also hit a nine-storey apartment building in the northern Obolonskyi district of the city, killing two more people, authorities said.
Firefighters worked to rescue survivors, painstakingly carrying an injured woman on a stretcher away from the blackened and still smoking building. A town councillor for Brovary, east of Kyiv, was killed in fighting there, officials said.
Shells also fell on the Kyiv suburbs of Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel, which have seen some of the worst fighting in Russia’s stalled attempt to take the capital, local officials said.
Air strikes were reported across the country, including the southern city of Mykolaiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv, where heat was knocked out to most of the town.
Explosions also rang out overnight around the Russian-occupied Black Sea port of Kherson.
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, firefighters doused the remains of a four-storey residential building on a street of apartments and shops.
Ukrainian emergency services said a strike hit the building, leaving smouldering piles of wood and metal. It was unclear whether there were casualties.
The surrounded southern city of Mariupol, where the war has produced some of the greatest human suffering, remained cut off despite earlier talks on creating aid or evacuation convoys.
A pregnant woman who became a symbol of Ukraine’s suffering when she was photographed being carried from a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol has died along with her baby, the Associated Press has learned.
Images of the woman being rushed to an ambulance on a stretcher had circled the world, epitomising the horror of an attack on humanity’s most innocent.
Ukraine announced plans for new humanitarian aid and evacuation corridors on Monday, although ongoing shelling caused similar efforts to fail in the last week, including on Sunday.
The UN has recorded at least 596 civilian deaths since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, though it believes the true toll is much higher.
Millions more people have fled their homes, with more than 2.8million crossing into Poland and other neighbouring countries in what the UN refugee agency has called Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Since launching its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has waged a multi-pronged attack.
Russia’s military is bigger and better equipped than Ukraine’s, but its troops have faced stiffer than expected resistance, bolstered by Western weapons support that has frustrated Putin.
With their advance slowed in several areas, they have bombarded several cities with unrelenting shelling, hitting two dozen medical facilities and a large number of apartment buildings.
The war expanded on Sunday when Russian missiles pounded a military training base in western Ukraine that previously served as a crucial hub for co-operation between Ukraine and NATO. The attack killed 35 people, Ukrainian officials said, and the base’s proximity to the borders of Poland and other NATO members raised concerns that the Western military alliance could be drawn into the war.
A missile was intercepted in the air above Kyiv but debris fell on to the city, hitting a tram and a car
A wrecked car is seen suspended in a tree after Russian air strikes damaged a civilian apartment block in Obolon, Kyiv
A woman holding a small dog walks in front of an apartment in a block which was destroyed by an artillery strike in Kyiv
Speaking on Sunday night, Zelensky called it a ‘black day’ and again urged NATO leaders to establish a no-fly zone over his country, a move the West has rejected for fear of starting a direct confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia.
Russia’s latest attack on its ex-Soviet neighbour has shaken the post-Cold War security order, with unpredictable and dangerous consequences.
The US says Russia asked China for military equipment to use in Ukraine after the West imposed severe economic sanctions to hobble the Russian economy and the invasion met stronger-than-expected Ukrainian resistance.
The request heightened tensions about the ongoing war ahead of a Monday meeting in Rome between top aides for the US and Chinese governments.
US President Joe Biden is sending his national security adviser Jake Sullivan to Rome to meet with a Chinese official over worries that Beijing is amplifying Russian disinformation and may help Moscow evade Western economic sanctions.
In his talks with senior Chinese foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi, Mr Sullivan will be looking for limits in what Beijing will do for Moscow.
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