A LUCKY British fighter dodged death when hit by a Russian sniper’s bullet in Ukraine.
Ex-Army James Sutton was one of four Brits who were wounded during a terrifying trench assault.
They were part of a mission to smash Russian lines at the start of Ukraine’s massive summer counter-offensive.
Sutton, 35, was shot in the shoulder. Pal James Smith, 33, stepped on a landmine.
A third Brit, known as Chaplin, suffered a shrapnel blast in his buttocks.
And a fourth, whose call-sign is Gabriel, ran into razor wire and sliced his leg to the bone. Luckily, all four survived.
Sutton described the mission as like a scene from the film Saving Private Ryan.
He said: “It was complete madness. There were bullets flying past out faces. I could see artillery landing. There were rocket-propelled grenades exploding behind me.”
Sutton, from South Wales, was among the first Britons to join Ukraine’s forces last year.
He was based in Zaporizhzhia province with the 78th Gertz Regiment when orders came for an armoured assault.
As they waited to go into battle he could hear snatches over the vehicle’s radio.
He said: “It sounded like complete hell.”
The Ukraine forces were badly battered in the fight, losing up to a fifth of the Nato kit and equipment donated for the mission.
Sutton was hit 91 seconds after he leapt out of an armoured car.
His helmet camera recorded an audible “thwack” of the bullet striking.
He screamed “ah . . . f***!!” and told a comrade: “I’ve been hit in the shoulder.”
The bullet from a Dragunov sniper rifle, lodged in his flesh without breaking bones or tearing muscle.
Shrapnel had also punctured his lungs but he did not realise.
Sutton managed to climb on to an armoured car with Gabriel. Also on board was dad-of-two James Smith, who had stepped on a mine.
Smith lost a toe on his left foot and is at home in Wirral to recuperate.
Chaplin was injured by an artillery shell about half an hour after the others.
Sutton had two operations on his shoulder and two on his lungs.
Six weeks later he is raring to get back to battle.
He said: “That mission was not successful, but the guys on the ground fought brave and hard and now they are making more progress.
“I should be back with my unit next week and fighting by the end of the month.”
