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It was only when he tried to stand up that the 27-year-old former British soldier realised something was wrong.
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something → see → Source
Moments earlier, the platoon commander, who can be identified only by his call sign, Snow, had been making the perilous journey on foot to rotate out of the front line in eastern Ukraine, where he serves Kyiv as a foreign fighter.
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he → identify → fighter
As he entered a forest on September 28 last year, he noticed what he thought was a friendly drone flying past him and the two new Ukrainian recruits under his command.
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he → enter → command
It was Russian – and it had been monitoring the three soldiers' every move.
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it → monitor → move
The moment they re-emerged from the forest, Snow realised he had walked into a trap.
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he → re → trap
'We didn't even make it five metres when a fibre optic drone came up off the ground,' he tells me, referring to kamikaze drones linked directly to their pilots by cable, rather than radio signals that can be jammed.
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that → make → cable
He yelled at his men to turn and run for the forest, in the hope the trees might offer some cover, but it was too late.
uncertain
it → yell → cover
'I pushed them in,' he says.
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he → push → them
'I went to the right and the drone hit me.
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drone → go → me
He undergoes physio and adjustments with his prosthetic limb at a clinic in Kyiv
Snow, from Northamptonshire, training recruits at a military training camp in the Kharkiv region
The blast blew off his left leg below the knee.
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blast → undergo → knee
'At first I stood up and I stood up on bone,' he tells me from Bez Obmezhen rehabilitation centre in Kyiv, where he is having a new prosthetic leg fitted.
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leg → stand → Kyiv
'Then I looked down and thought, 'Oh, it's missing'.
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it → look → ?
In shock, his training kicked in.
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training → kick → shock
Snow picked up his radio and gave the code '300' to signal he was wounded, calmly adding: 'There has been an amputation.'
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he → pick → code
'Then I just sat back down and started to look,' he says.
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he → sit → ?
'I lost a pint-and-a-half of blood straight away.
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I → lose → blood
My other leg had shrapnel as well, and my back.
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leg → have → shrapnel
The two Ukrainians put a tourniquet on, but didn't do it correctly.
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Ukrainians → put → it
At this point I think I died because I felt like I came out of my body.
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I → think → body
I looked at myself lying there and I shook my head.
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I → look → head
I then went back inside my body.
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I → go → body
I woke up, put the tourniquet on below my knee.
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I → wake → knee
'I just controlled the guys, and said, 'Put me in the forest and give me the radio so I can order CasEvac [casualty evacuation]'.
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I → control → CasEvac
Snow made it out to Kharkiv alive in an armoured vehicle.
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Snow → make → vehicle
Over three months, as he underwent over 20 surgeries and waited for a prosthetic leg, he considered suicide.
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he → undergo → suicide
But once the leg was fitted in Kyiv, he taught himself to walk in a week.
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he → fit → week
Then he did something remarkable – after rehabilitation he returned to his men to serve near the front line.
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he → do → line
He says he intended to return from the outset.
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he → say → outset
'Instantly, I was like, OK, I have a leg problem.
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I → have → problem
I'll get a prosthetic and I'll go back,' he tells me.
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he → get → me
I first met Snow a year ago at a secret training base in the Kharkiv region, where I was struck by his no-nonsense reflections on the brutal reality of soldiering.
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I → meet → soldiering
'I expect to die out here,' he calmly told me at the time, adding as long as his recruits accept that too, 'we'll be OK'.
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we → expect → that
We stayed in touch, and when I inquired about a story last winter he delivered the news of his injury with characteristic bluntness.
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he → stay → bluntness
'I lost half a leg mate so I couldn't give a f*** about anything else currently.'
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I → lose → anything
A second message followed swiftly: 'How are you?'
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you → follow → ?
It was that message that brought me back to see him.
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that → bring → him
The softly spoken former member of the Royal Anglian Regiment, from Northamptonshire, has already given so much to his Ukrainian cause since 2022.
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member → speak → 2022
Snow served in the Royal Anglians for six years where he saw action on a peacekeeping tour of Mali in 2017.
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he → serve → 2017
On leaving the military he became a livestock haulier for a few years but quickly grew bored and missed army life.
Snow has rejoined the Ukrainian war effort against Russia after losing his leg in the conflict
Having followed the Ukraine conflict closely since 2014, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, he came out to help the cause later that year.
'
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he → leave → cause
I have the skills and experience and I wanted to help.
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I → have → skills
…and 67 more, not listed.
The Aporia
