An Irish soldier has opened up about the realities of fighting in Ukraine, admitting he should be dead after being ambushed by Russian forces.
Brian Meagher, who served in the Irish Defence Forces for 15 years before becoming a prison officer, has been on the frontline in the east of the country. While fighting with the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine, the Co Meath dad-of-two was struck by shrapnel last month.
He said that some of it is still in his heart. He is now preparing to return to Ireland when it is “safe to do so”.
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He also said while he did not know Dunboyne man, Rory Mason, 23, who was killed in action last week, they were both based in the same area in Ukraine. He added: “I believe this young man was killed in Kharkiv as well and that’s where I was hit.
“He’s from Meath and I’m from Meath, it’s weird we’re only like 10 minutes from each other. It’s very strange.”
Speaking on RTE’s Morning Ireland from Ukraine, Brian opened up about the attack which he believes should have left him “dead three or four times over”. He said: “I’ve been shot in my right forearm, my fingers look pretty bad, it’s like they’ve blown outwards.
“I don’t know if I got hit by some shrapnel or whether it was the bullet. I still have two bits of shrapnel in my heart, there’s one still lodged in my spine.
“I got hit in my legs three times, one shrapnel hit me on my right side. One ricocheted off something on my body and came out in front of me. I’ve had three pieces that went through me completely, they hit me on the right hand side and exited my body on the left.”
He said fighting on the frontline in Kharkiv was “quite scary”, adding: “It’s a fairly bloody campaign. I don’t know the casualty rate but judging from what I see in the hospital it’s horrendous.”
Mr Meagher “justified” his decision to leave Ireland as his life insurance, provided by the Legion, meant his wife and children would be “safe and financially stable if something did happen”. He said: “There’s kids here who are not safe.
"And I thought that’s kind of part of the reason I came over here.” Brian “can’t wait” to get home, adding: “I feel kind of guilty that I’m not out there with the guys in my unit.
“The only thing I regret is that I got hit. I’d still be out there now if I wasn’t hit.”
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