IT'S NOT WISE FOR ME TO EMBARK ON A WAR WITH TWO NUCLEAR POWERS!

Finally, I ask Shaman if he wanted to comment on recent controversial comments made by US President Donald Trump, that Ukraine had started the war with Russia and President Zelensky was “a dictator”.

- Lord Ashcroft

HE IS both sensitive and emotional when discussing his comrades who have been killed in battle. Yet he remains cold and dispassionate when talking about the numerous Russians he has "liquidated" during Special Forces operations deep behind enemy lines.

Welcome to the world of call-sign "Shaman" a Ukrainian special forces operative who readily admits he regards those who serve with him, rather than his blood relations, as his closest "family", such is his bond with his men.

Aged 35, broad shouldered, blue-eyed and bearded, with a black sense of humour, he is the commander of the eponymous "Shaman Battalion", which he has led during the last three years of all-out war.

Many would argue it has been Ukraine's most daring and successful Special Ops unit, which is why Shaman's true identity is a closely-guarded secret.

He has been the target of many assassination attempts by Russian agents. One saw attackers open fire on his car in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, wounding his driver.

It is therefore not surprising that, when it comes to photographing Shaman before our interview, he disappears to find a black balaclava and cap so that nothing of his face, other than his eyes, can be seen.

There is also a pistol on his desk throughout our interview, although Shaman later reassures me it was only a training weapon. I start by asking him which has been his most frightening moment of the war.

"The scariest moments are always the few seconds before the start of the operation, when the sound of the first gunfire is only a heartbeat away.

"Once you are in the helicopter, or once you start firing, you just follow your instincts and do what you are trained to do.