this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. on the battlefields of ukraine, you won't just find local soldiers... slava ukraini. ..but volunteers from all over the world. guatemala, portugal, america. ukrainian officials say 20,000 international volunteers have travelled to help fight back against the russian invasion. many of them came from britain. they needed help so that is

why i got up and went. i've got a purpose in life out there. you didn't have any military experience previously? 100% civilian. from those who'd never held a weapon, to experienced soldiers, british volunteers are fighting and dying alongside the people of ukraine. i did not find out until the day before he was coming. a lot of people are like, why you are here and why are you doing this? is there a kind of war tourism? as i tracked down the people who did not have to be in this war, we find stories of bravery... get me a chest seal, open the bag. ..and friendship... everyone 0k? i am proud of what i have achieved, but i'm proud of the guys who i am out there with. ..of a search for adventure and of sacrifice. i wish we could have kept him here. we are on our way to the ukrainian border to meet up with a medical team that

are helping to evacuate an injured british fighter, but their ambulance has broken down and they have had to get another one, so fingers crossed they will make it out. thousands of volunteers have made this journey into the conflict, and i am on a mission to find out what they have been up to. sharif from bristol travelled to ukraine a few weeks after the invasion. british volunteers who are ex—military are seen as bringing valuable knowledge and experience. another successful day of training with our team. and with his nine years in the british army, sharif helped teach ordinary ukrainian civilians medical and weapon skills before joining a military unit himself on the front lines. some big stuff's coming up in the next few days. so, i'm just making a video to say, hi, and i love everyone.

but not long after he recorded this message, his unit came under attack and sharif was badly injured. had a tough night cos the anaesthesiologist wasn't in, so, yeah, that is my life at the moment. i have been in touch with sharif while he spent weeks recovering in a military hospital in the heavily bombarded city of 0desa. say hi to the doctor. i am off to another operation. wish me luck. now, a british charity is helping him get to the border and back to the uk. but the journey is far from straightforward. apparently, he does not have all the right military paperwork so he might not actually be able to get out. as a contracted soldier with the ukrainian military he has been told he needs permission to leave and his document still has not come through but with his health at stake, the team take the decision to just get across the border. you made it!

how are you doing? how are you? exhausted but i am good. i bet, i bet. should we get you in the warm? that would be amazing. helping sharif make thejourney, ewan and craig are medics who are usually evacuating ukrainian refugees but sharif is now the second british fighter they have helped return home. speak to the sergeant, the sergeant was very clear that had it been an ukrainian they'd have just amputated. meeting sharif is a stark reminder of the realities of war and the cause he chose tojoin. i felt that if i did not step up to the plate then i would not be true to myself as a human being because i have skills and to sit at home on my laurels and just watch this war happen where i could actually do something that could make a difference, save one life, train one person to use a rifle, teach somebody how to put a tourniquet on their leg.

but to begin with, he says, not all volunteers were welcomed. a lot of people were like, why are you here? why are you doing this? a lot of people are running away from the country. but after a while a trust was built because we are fighting for a cause that we chose to join. i mean, there is negativity there as well. being called a tourist or whatever else. is there a kind of war tourism? there are a few people like that? there is plenty. they will go and see a blown up building, or they'll go carry a weapon and they'll do something for a month and then they'll go home. that fizzles out after a while. the attack which nearly killed him happened during an operation near the southern city of zaporizhzhia. we had been on a four—day operation but we pushed a little bit too far. we knew there were three tanks in the area. we pushed so far forward, but it was what we call a come on, where they moved out of the way, waiting for us to come in and then

they came in and give us everything they had. before we knew it there were rounds coming down and it was just boom, boom, boom. he tried to shelter in a half—dug trench with a ukrainian fighter alongside. and every time a round would come down, i would lean to the left, he would lean to the right and try and grab each other�*s helmets and get as low as we could and it was only a matter of time and one of the rounds just sort of landed between our legs and blew upwards. i crawled out and then that is when the russians opened up the small arm fire and took out my left arm. what was going through your mind? i was positive that i was going to die. ijust thought, i am going to sufferfor an hour and then die. it is not like the british army where we have got some helicopters to come and pick us up, we've got no morphine, it doesn't work like that out here. it is old school, second world war stuff. but their commander managed to get sharif out alive. he finally got a kozak vehicle to cross open ground under tank

fire, picked us up and drove us away. an hour and 20 minutes, i am still gasping for air with two punctured lungs, and i saw my hand hanging off. the right shoulder was splat open, the top of the right arm was shot and the bone's been destroyed, the forearm has been blown apart, it has been ripped out and the wrist is been taken apart. my stomach was torn open and put back together. what was it like recovering in that hospital? you are awake for these surgeries most of the time. it is time to continue the journey. sharif�*s ukrainian fiance is coming as well and there is little time to lose. he's to be transferred to a safe hospital in bristol where surgeons are going to try and save hand. if he stays in ukraine he is going to lose his hand. fighters aren't the only ones risking their lives in this conflict.

ewan and craig have been travelling to some of the worst—hit areas. we have been bringing people back across the border. i couldn't have sat at home and watched what was happening and not come in and actually take part. how do you fund this? a lot of personal money has gone into this and ultimately we rely on donations. the team have organized a medical repatriation flight back to bristol. despite life—changing injuries, sharif is still holding on to a determination to return to the front line. i am going back. you still want to go back? there is nothing else in this world that i want more than to be there with my boys. you nearly died. if it means that much to you, then you're not going to start something and not finish it. it is an honour. but there will be some road to recovery. this is the last leg of the journey and then he is nearly home. they are bringing aden and they're getting us back. you are going to be missing him?

of course, but i'll see him very soon. i hope. ready? pack your things. thank you so much. you have no idea. it is straight to the hospital for me, so, not a lot of bristol that i will be seeing for a while. after nine months in the conflict, he is back on british soil. his a story of survival has caught the attention of the newspapers who have given him the nickname rambo. the call for volunteers to enlist in the ukrainian military came from the president himself at the start of the invasion. "to the citizens of the world," he said, "come and fight side—by—side with ukraine." in what he called the beginning of a war against europe.

i can understand why ukraine has been welcoming volunteers who have combat experience to help take on the russian army. but what about those who do not? these guys are getting together for the first time since being on the front lines and they have agreed to share a few war stories with me from months in the trenches. why did you go? i have seen what was going on in the news. they are firing on civilians here. this is just like terrorists, what they are doing. you did not have any military experience beforehand? 100% civilian. no military experience. i tried tojoin the military when i was younger, but i could not get in, but i could put all my heart and soul injoining.

i saw a facebook advertisement, it was all in ukrainian but i translated it. if you know how to handle a gun, contact us, so i gave them a ring. told them that i'd been in the guard, like cadet experience. i know it's nothing much but they said we'll give you a month's training and we'll send you out into the front line in the kharkiv district. after travelling across ukraine, theyjoined a battalion with other british and international volunteers fighting in the east. 0h, damn, we got to this new place. they metjames, aged 21, who'd quit the british army to go. they needed help so i knew i could fight, that was what i was trained to do, so that's why i got up and went. and tim, who spent time in afghanistan. this is where we sleep. and they began filming their experiences along the way. they issued a rifle about the time we got

a volunteer contract, here's where you're going. all we knew was dig a hole, watch. did you feel up to it? i did wonder, what have i got myself into here, but it did feel natural. as they learned to become soldiers, it was eye—opening even for those with experience. in the british army i have never come under tank fire, it is not something that happens in the british army. we have the tanks, we have the helicopters, we have the fast air and things like that. here, it is all against you. it was not long before they were involved in intense fighting. once you get the first flyover, you watch videos of fire fights then when you are there, and the rounds do go out, my training kicked in. the first time ever i experienced combat i was in a school. we got hit by multiple missiles and the intel we got, five tanks approaching

and we all got out. i remember there was a mud hill and as i looked up, a tank came straight through the bushes and straight for me. we heard on the radio, one tank destroyed, two tanks are destroyed, three tanks destroyed. that split—second i didn't know if i was coming out of that situation. i thought i was going to get killed right here, right now. it was james's first experience of many coming under fire from russian tanks. this round missing him by inches. everyone 0k? it has landed right next to me. i can't hear nothing. i can't hear a thing. as the ukrainian frontlines pushed forward, the group were involved in many operations to recapture ground, often encountering abandoned russian positions along the way. so the russians

were there yesterday. ukrainian military, myself and my teams pushed the russians out. civilians are happy. much of the fighting involved old school trench warfare. we were 600 metres from russians at all times. 0ur treeline, their treeline and a field in—between. sound travels further and you could hear them talking. life in the trenches was a constant game of cat and mouse with the enemy. so we went on this attack on independence day, the whole of the ukrainian frontline pushed forward. i rememberjust going up the back of the tree line and five prisoners was there. what have we got here? a couple of russian prisoners. how does that work? they surrender, you surrender. quite sad to see. they were either really young or really old. they didn't want to be there.

it was strange. it made it feel real. did you feel sorry for them? yeah, i empathised. my biggest fear out there were actually getting captured. five russian prisoners, surrendered. _ i wanted to kill them. did you? i wanted to kill them. there was a high chance they could have killed some of my very good friends, these guys we had captured. they weren't crying. they were probably laughing about it. they only cried when they've been caught. "i'm a conscript. "i never meant to do it. "i got sent here." ukrainian authorities send blanket text messages to russian soldiers' phones, telling them surrender and they won't be harmed. how do you treat them? we just hand them over to the ukrainian authorities. did you speak to them? yeah, i said a few words to them. i said a few words in his ear. i wanted to give them something to remember. gunfire. we've got to get out. as the months go by, it's clear the risks become routine. you can accept that any second, any moment, anything,

and this moment could be the worst you have or the last moment the guy next to you has or two trenches down the line. in august, a british volunteer from norfolkjoined the unit. we were close, always close, looked up to him as an older brother. he could light up a room, he really could. craig mackintosh was a landscape gardener. hello, darling. he was funny, he would always do some crazy thing to make us laugh. we was really close growing up. he always wanted to go in the army ever since he was little. he would have all his toy soldiers. he always played with them. but when he travelled to ukraine's family had little warning. i didn't find out until the day before he was going, he said not to stress and worry. and, yeah, that's the first i've heard about it.

what was your reaction? i was gutted. did you ever try to talk him out of it? all the time. even on the way to the airport, like, just, yeah, anything to get him to come home, but he had his heart set on it. initially i was very angry. it didn't make sense to me. i thought at first, why would you leave everyone and not tell anyone, and then i thought, wow, what a courageous thing to do. what i remember about craig, we called him pikey, - his call sign were i pikey, he loved it. he'd found his place there, you know, he were happy. but the group were about to undertake one of their most dangerous operations. i might message him on a tuesday and i would hear from him on thursday or maybe friday. one day i text him and never got nothing back. we were just on this big counteroffensive and this was the actual last firefight we got into that day. we were in russian territory, the russians did not know we were in their territory. one of our friends,

an australian friend, he was digging a trench, so ijust was sat on the edge of the trench. you know you get the feeling someone's behind you? i looked behind me, surely enough there was someone there. he was only ten metres away from me, looking all confused, like that, like, "what are these guys doing here? they're our guys? " he thought you were russian? yeah, he thought we were. that's when i seen his face change. i seen he was planning something. he had time to see every single... he looked around. he had eye contact with me, he had eye contact withjed, everyone behind us. i was getting screamed at behind, "make sure it's not friendly, make sure it's not friendly!" so at this point i was.... "put your gun down, put your gun down!" dropped to the floor, but he raised his gun, so i shot him six times. but the russian soldier had already fired his own shot. ijust remember looking and shouting back "jed's down!" and "jed's dead." and i heard behind me, "craig's dead." it was 25 august that i found out that he had been shot.

it crushed me. after that firefight, i looked down, and to be honest, i cried, i cried. not because i was scared, but just seeing it up close and personal, you are talking with someone, having a laugh someone then the life isjust gone. just gone within a click of the fingers. the police came to myl dad's and they told us. i didn't think he was going to go on the frontline. - ididn't think that- was going to happen. i thought he was going i to be helping, but away from the front line. i think most people die of cancer or common illness, not being shot out at war. i don't know, ijust didn't believe it, it didn't feel real. friends and family said

their final goodbyes. it was heartbreaking. but he got the send off that he deserved. like he said, no—one else would understand, he has got to do it for his own reasons and that's what he done. same as a lot of people. they feel like they can make a big difference, which they are. he was happy and you've got to be happy for him. your brother's a hero, but, yeah, still won't bring him back, though. it's hard and my children miss him. pikey and jed, we're . not going forget them. jed, pikey, ninja — i think about them every day, every day. they will always be remembered by me as very good people. they were. music plays. do you think the british volunteers out there actually make a difference to

the overall war effort? yeah. yeah, big time as well. like the ukrainians see us and it makes them feel like they are not alone. i'm proud of what i've achieved, i'm proud of the guys that we were out there with, we did a lot of good, we took a lot of ground. it's impossible to know the exact number of british volunteers in ukraine as there's now a number of battalions that accept soldiers from abroad, but ukraine's international legion says there continues to be a steady stream of volunteers willing to join the fight and that the uk is still one of the most represented countries within its ranks. i would never tell anyone to go out and do what i've done. i believe i've saved a few lives and i'm a better person for what i've done.

a lot of people who have sat watching it on the news and saying "i'd go if they didn't have this, if i didn't have that." i had a good job. i had me own house. gave it all up. some people would say you are crazy. people call us crazy, people call us crazy. james dee in leeds, - about to go back to ukraine. we're ready for it. slava ukraini! what is it about it that draws people back? i think it's the brotherhood. civilians don't understand it. i've got a purpose in life out there, i'm happy, i've got my friends, and i've got a purpose. i'm connected up to machines and i'm in very, very good hands. is it worth it? i would do it all again now, even though my outcome. it's probably the fact that i was doing something that i loved and i believed in. he found what he'd always been searching for. in the photos i've seen,

he looks like he was happy. i wish we could have kept him here. it's not that we love killing or we love bloodshed, - it's because in those - situations humanity really does shine through. hello there. for the past week or so, low pressure has dominated the weather pattern, which is why it's been so cool and wet. but over the next week, pressure will be rising and that will settle things down. and that starts this weekend, where we see some sunshine at times and those temperatures will be slowly lifting. that cooler, wetter weather is getting pushed away.

we'll start to pick up some warmth on a southerly breeze as we head through the weekend and it will also turn somewhat drier as well because the main low that brought all the rain on friday, that's moving into central parts of europe. it's going to leave us with some cloud to start the weekend across eastern england, eastern scotland. that cloud breaks up but as we get some sunshine, that will trigger some showers and those could be quite sharp as well. away from those eastern areas, it should be dry and there should be quite a bit of sunshine and with the winds still light, it should feel pleasantly warm in the sunshine as well. temperatures are nothing to get excited about but an improvement on friday, so typically around 12—14 degrees on saturday. northern ireland does cloud over in the afternoon and into the evening and overnight, we could see a little bit of rain coming in on that weather front there but that will be weakening as we head into sunday as high pressure continues to build. but we are going to see a lot more cloud around on sunday. not much rain towards the north—west, where it's a little breezy — we're picking up that southerly breeze — and towards some eastern parts of england, we could start with some mist and fog on sunday morning before we get a bit more sunshine through the day. and because it's a southerly breeze, those temperatures

will continue to rise, perhaps getting up to 15 or 16 degrees, especially where we get some sunshine. and high pressure is going to dominate as we head into next week. the centre of the high, though, is going to be across scandinavia on monday. we'll pick up more of an easterly breeze or a southerly breeze but there'll still be some cloud around, i think, on monday, particularly across scotland, northern ireland, some western parts of england and wales but clearer, drier air is coming in on that easterly breeze as it develops through the day. that'll bring more sunshine, lifting temperatures to a warmer 16 or 17 degrees, so getting above average for this time of the year. high pressure still in charge as we head into tuesday. pressure is continuing to rise. we're getting a few more isobars on the chart — an indication that the breeze is going to be picking up. we get that easterly breeze, it'll feel a little bit cooler around some of those north sea coasts, but with a lot of sunshine around and a dry day on tuesday, we shouldn't complain too much, really. and the highest temperatures are going to be towards the west, particularly western scotland — could make 18 degrees here. this time of the year is actually a good time,

normally, to visit western scotland because we often have high pressure sitting towards this part of europe. again centred toward scandinavia, more of a breeze picking up, the winds picking up again on wednesday. and whilst pressure is high at the surface, higher up in the atmosphere, we've got an area of low pressure — that's why we're expecting more cloud on wednesday and maybe some showers, mainly across england and wales. probably still dry in scotland and northern ireland with some sunshine but the air�*s going to be a little bit cooler as well on wednesday. now, looking further ahead, there's some discrepancies in the models. some models take that high pressure, build it across towards greenland and leave us with a cooler northerly breeze. the preferred story, though, is this, where high pressure stays to the east of the uk, low pressure to the west. that gives us more of a southerly breeze and keeps it that bit warmer, and temperatures perhaps in a few places not far away from 19, maybe 20 degrees. could be some weather fronts coming in from the atlantic from time to time, threatening to bring some rain. the position of the high and the position of the low is going to be crucial and at the moment, there's still a lot to play for. goodbye.

live from london, this is bbc news. the headlines: japan's prime minister has been rushed away by security teams after an explosion was heard as he prepared to give a speech. montana becomes the first us state to pass legislation imposing a total ban on the popular app tiktok. 21—year—old jack teixeira appears in court in boston, over a huge leak of secret government documents. hello.

i'm vishala sri—pathma.