A Brit who survived a Russian attack on a military base near the Polish border said he is “lucky to be alive” after 35 were killed and dozens more wounded in the strike.
Matthew Longland shook as he recalled being woken by a missile at the Yavoriv International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security before the complex was “annihilated”.
The dad - who served for three years in the Infantry - said there was no warning siren before the first missile landed on Sunday morning, as he lay on a bunk in a tent.
Matthew, 37, said: “It was like a whizz straight across our tent and then boom, then bang again. We ran out, round into a makeshift ditch.
“I thought, the next one’s gonna be for me. There were about 30 missiles in total, they smashed the place to pieces.
“It was terrible. I haven’t slept - I went to sleep last night and I heard someone wheeling the suitcase and it sounded like a helicopter and I just shot up.
“It will probably take me a long time to process it when I get back to the UK.”
The roofer, from Leicester, and three other members of the International Legion who were at the base, spoke to the Mirror in the Polish border town of Korczowa, 18 miles from the base.
Horrifying footage taken by another member of the group, Jetmin Hyseni, from Belgium, shows an explosion of smoke and carnage at the base.
Another fighter, Xander Doku, who is from the US, was watching Saving Private Ryan at the base when he heard a “whoosh.”
“When we ran out we saw this hellfire, it was like something out of Apocalypse Now,” he said. “I found myself yelling and screaming at the aircraft […] my hands got cut up by glass.
“In the process of [running], I fell into an ice river, I was falling and some guys had to pull me out and in the process I lost my telephone.
“I had no idea if my sergeant was still in existence.”
The 35-year-old, who studies history and recently handed in a dissertation on World War II tactics, added: “After all this went down the guys all had a swig of whiskey, and the guy who procure that whiskey for us is dead.
“We lost a lot of decent people, with jobs like cooking us food. It was a cowardly attack.
The group, which included Ukrainian Dmviro Marchuk, 31, say they were urged to “get back into the field” after the attack despite supplies having been obliterated.
Matthew, who has never seen combat, said: “They wanted to send us into the field with basically no weapons - they’d been smashed to pieces. I thought, well we’re not going out to fight a World War II style mission with no weapons.
“We had to get out because it was a suicide mission.
The foursome crossed into Poland to regroup, and 22-year-old Jetmin, who has no military experience, decided to return home, having been shaken by the ordeal.
He told us: “Our camp is 20 kilometres from [Korczowa] and maybe the next target is refugee camps here and Poland - because Putin has no limit.”
But Matthew has vowed to stay on.
“I’ll do anything to help,” he said. “I’ve got no plans back home, I’m here for the duration.
The dad travelled alone to Ukraine last week after being left “disgusted” by civilian deaths and headed to Lviv, where he spent a night in an air raid shelter.
“I saw that innocent women and children and the general public were getting killed,” he explained. “I thought I’m fit and healthy, so I’ll come out here and see what I can do.
“I had no plans, I met nobody, there was no command, no base, nobody to help me out. So I was there on my own.”
After struggling with the language barrier, he connected with other members of the International Legion back in Poland and they went together to Yavoriv on Friday.
Matthew is unsure how his kids, aged 14 and 17, feel about his mission, but he admits his parents “aren't happy”, especially after the strike on Sunday. “I phoned them when I got to the border,” he said. “They asked if I was gonna come home and I said no.
“I know that I might not be so lucky next time. I’m a bit nervous. But knowing that others are being killed in action makes me more determined to get over there and help them.”
