Ukraine war: Former Royal Anglian soldier helping clear mines on front line

Former Royal Anglian soldier CJ Darton has been defusing mortars in Ukraine

A former British soldier helping to clear land mines and unexploded bombs in Ukraine said he understood his work was a "dangerous game".

CJ Darton, who used to be an infantryman for the Royal Anglian regiment, is with Ukrainian teams and police finding and decommissioning explosives.

In one day, Mr Darton, from Norfolk, said he had made 300 mortars safe.

He said he was "glad" to be able to "bring [my skills] to the table".

"Ultimately every fuse that you touch, every shell that you touch, there is a 50% chance that it's going to actuate in your hands or detonate," he said.

"A lot of them are damaged."

His work had involved a controlled explosion of a tank turret, he said, which had a live shell stuck inside.

CJ Darton said he was volunteering on the Ukrainian front line to help avoid future deaths

Mr Darton said the Ukrainians did not "have the boots on the ground" to do this kind of clearance so had joined "with the police to bring our knowledge, skills and expertise in the explosive world".

The ex-soldier understood he was risking his own life.

"It's a very dangerous game what we are doing," he said, but added he was looking at the longer term.

"If we don't do what we're doing, a year, two years', five years' time, 10 years' time, if a group of children go running through the woods that haven't been checked, been cleared, then there's going to be more bodies," said Mr Darton.

Mr Darton has been helping to defuse mortars

Mr Darton said the team he was working with had no equipment, so were using sticks to search for trip wires.

"It needs to be done. I'm in a position to be able to help. It's a unique set of skills and qualifications that a lot of people out here don't have so I'm glad I can bring it to the table," Mr Darton said.

The former soldier said the situation in Ukraine was worse than that being broadcast.

Bodies on the streets were all too common, he said.

"Obviously I've served in Afghanistan, I think I was fairly desensitised to that kind of thing anyway, [but] it's not nice to see."

Mr Darton said he was prepared to stand alongside the Ukrainians on the front line for as long as it takes.

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