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The son of a British lawmaker Helen Grant is part of the country’s ex-servicemen group that has arrived in war-torn Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.
Thirty-year-old Ben Grant served for five years as a Royal Marines Commando. The Guardian reported that he is among seven British former soldiers who arrived in Ukraine over the weekend.
At Lviv railway station in Ukraine, he told the media outlet: “I haven’t been sent, nothing to do with the government, nothing to do with my mother. Just wanna make that clear, completely off my own back, I decided to do this.”
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Grant, who is a father of three, said he had not informed his mother before going, following a stint working in Iraq as a private security contractor.
He said, “I didn’t even tell my mum, but it is what it is. I thought I am a father of three, and if that was my kids I know what I would do, I would go and fight.”
Grant said, “In total we have another 100 people coming, so this will be really good when they all get here – different backgrounds, some of them are very, very specialist.”
He said he was undeterred by Russia’s warnings that “foreign mercenaries” taken captive by its forces in Ukraine would not be treated as prisoners of war.
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“If it comes to me being able to end my life before getting captured, I probably would do that. I mentally prepared myself for that, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said.
The reports of Britons joining the Ukrainian cause emerged despite UK government warnings against joining the war. UK’s Foreign Office advice warns against all travel to Ukraine.
While Grant’s group are ex-servicemen, The Sun newspaper reported that a 19-year-old member of the Coldstream Guards was among up to four missing British soldiers believed to have gone to Ukraine.
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