Standing on a steep grassy hill, a figure in uniform took aim with a rifle. Several shots pinged into a pile of tyres. Nearby, police officers took turns firing from a DShK, or “Dushka”, heavy machine gun, mounted on a green-painted military vehicle. The rounds echoed across the rustic shooting range, scattering swallows. Down a track was a farmstead with cows.
The sniper was not a Ukrainian soldier but a 58-year-old British former marine called Alan. From Plymouth, in south-west England, Alan is one of a small group of foreign volunteers fighting in Ukraine, more than 16 months after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Alan, who declined to give his second name, arrived last September. Soon he will go back to the frontline.
