A husband who flew to Ukraine to fight without telling his wife and son is set to face her anger as he returns from the "suicide mission".
Ben Spann, from Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, has no military background but flew to Poland from London Stansted to "join the resistance" against Vladimir Putin and Russia.
The 36-year-old, who runs an anti-knife charity in his home area, said he was ready to die to defend the country and only told his wife and son he was heading there to help refugees.
He crossed the border and was located in a safehouse where he began to have doubts about the dangerous trip while his group awaited weapons, Birmingham Live reports.
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But, on the fifth day of his mission he decided to return home after receiving "grief" from his concerned family.
The Warwickshire dad revealed he had a gun pointed at his head by a "Ukrainian SWAT team" who were vetting new arrivals, who also included four ex-British Army soldiers.
He said: "I became quite close to these guys. We were prepared to go and fight and basically die together, if that was what happened.
"You quickly form a bond with people in those situations. At that point, I was getting some real grief off my wife and my son. My son was doubting whether I even cared about him, why I was doing this - same with my wife."
Mr Spann said he thought the prospect of travelling to a more dangerous part of Ukraine without weapons "was a bit of a suicide mission".
While in Ukraine, Mr Spann said he saw two dead Russian soldiers propped up as a "warning" to Vladimir Putin's army. He joined scores of Ukrainians fleeing at the Poland border.
Mr Spann said: "It reminded me of a cattle market, to be honest… the tension was high."
He continued: "My wife was pretty p***** off saying she was going to kick me out and this, that and the other."
He added: "My son's okay. He never went through the anger process. I just think he was happy and glad I was back out of there." Mr Spann also warned non-military Brits to avoid travel to the country.
