A Brit volunteer soldier in Ukraine who suffered 'excruciating pain' after his leg was blown up by a mine has vowed to return to the frontline.
Dean Arthur was with a unit in woodland north of Kharkiv when they came under fire and the remote device was detonated.
The former Grenadier Guardsman was rescued by ex-Royal Marine Ben Grant and taken to hospital, where doctors were thankfully able to save the 42-year-old's leg.
Despite his injuries, determined Dean says he will be back with his unit once he is recovered and has completed his rehabilitation.
Speaking to StokeonTrentLive from his hospital bed, the soldier spoke of his remarkable decision to leave his HGV driving job to go flight alongside Ukrainian forces.
He said: "I heard what was happening on the radio and I realised that they would just be under siege.
"Knowing what the people out here were going through was all the inspiration I needed and I went out."
Dean, from Stoke-on-Trent, first signed up with the Army as an 18-year-old back in 1998 before coming out in 2003. But having followed in the family footsteps of being in the military he was determined to once again go into combat.
He said: "When I heard what was happening out here it all felt like a call to arms. I went through all the proper channels to be here and so I am officially a soldier with the Ukrainian Army - fighting for them.
"The people out here are just amazing and have been so welcoming.
"The people here are the only inspiration I need to go out and fight. Yes, it's scary, but we are soldiers. Men and women are signing up and they need help and I wanted to help.
"You couldn't meet better people than the Ukrainians, they have just been so supportive. I am a soldier, it's in me, and it's what I do.
"The people here have jobs and are doing that while serving in the army, they are relentless. I wanted to help them."
For now Dean, who went out in March, is recovering in a Kyiv hospital - and admits he is lucky to be alive. Dean along with the unit he is with were in woodland north of Kharkiv earlier this month.
It was there where they came under fire - and it is believed a remote mine was detonated which nearly blew Dean's leg off.
He said: "I had fired an RPG and must have lit myself up and the next thing there was an explosion. I think the tree took the brunt of it!"
Dean was dragged to safety by ex-Royal Marine Ben Grant - son of Conservative MP Helen Grant - and the rest of the unit.
Dean told StokeonTrentLive: "At the time all I could think about what how much it hurt. It was excruciating pain, with rounds incoming.
"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."
"After about 20 metres there was a medic and I got some morphine."
Dean says he has lost around 75 per cent of the muscle from the lower part of his leg - which he has bravely called a bonus. He said: "Muscle grows back and I have been told there's no nerve damage.
My rehab will be between eight to ten weeks and then I want to go back out there, it's what I came here to do.
Meanwhile Ben - who rescued Dean - told The Telegraph: “What was so scary was being so limited by trying to carry someone, when 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”.
Ben, 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.
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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