06 July 2023 , 12:21
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A dad-of-two and former soldier has been injured fighting against the Russians in Ukraine when he was blasted by a Kremlin landmine.
James Smith, from Eastham in Wirral, was working with a team to clear a number of landmines about 20 metres away from Russian trenches when he stepped on a Russian landmine while in the South of Ukraine.
The 33-year-old said he ran towards woodland for cover when the accident happened and he was blasted.
Luckily he survived the ordeal and was rushed to hospital where he underwent a number of operations.
He lost one of his toes on his left foot, had shrapnel surgically removed from his legs and also had a metal rod placed in his foot.
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James Smith, 33, from Eastham in Wirral, stepped on a Russian landmine (James Smith/Liverpool Echo)When asked by The ECHO why he decided to go over to Ukraine, James said: "For me, it just seemed like a big form of bullying, there was no reason for Russia to invade Ukraine. They said they needed people with my exact skill set to help save lives so I went.
"Six days after the war started I was on the frontline in Ukraine."
James has now been moved to another hospital in Kyiv and is planning to return home to Wirral to recover.
James travelled to Ukraine to be on the frontline just six days after the war broke out, having previously completed two tours of Afghanistan with the British Army.
He formally left the army when his children started school.
James' mum, Jo Farnley, 56, said her son was one of the first soldiers from the UK to volunteer in Ukraine.
She said: "He has a military background, from 16 he went to Army Foundation College and by 18 he was in the Army.
"We paid for him to go on a plastering course and he was doing scaffolding but he could never settle.
"He was just itching to be elsewhere because that's what he has been trained to do. I thought he was going to join the British Army again, I never in a million years expected he would go over to Ukraine. I was quite shocked."
James is now trying to raise funds through a JustGiving page to help him fly back home, pay medical expenses for prosthetics, and recover.
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He said on the page: "I was one of the first soldiers to go to the war and I still don't regret a thing. I'm asking for a little bit of money to try to help me readjust at home.
"I don't have a sob story, I'm in good spirits. I still think whatever the negatives of this will be it will never change my mind, I made the right choice coming.
"I feel really overwhelmed by the money I've received so far, I've had old friends from school messaging me to say how proud they are of me."