I PUT DOWN MY SNIPER RIFLE TO SERVE AS UKRAINE'S EDUCATION MINISTER

Oksen Lisovyi's military role took him into some of his war-torn country's most dangerous killing grounds. Now he has taken responsibility for its 3.7 million children - one in ten of whom can't safely go to school because of Russian shelling and drone strikes

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for his country and its values. “From my childhood I understood that Russia was the enemy. I also understood the DNA of Russians and their desire for expansion.”

ON FEBRUARY 24, 2022, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Oksen knew it was time to put his military training into action and he soon volunteered for, and was accepted into, the 95th Air Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A powerful man with a long, dark, bushy, greying beard, Oksen is 6ft 1in and weighs more than 15 stone.

For the best part of a year, his main role was that of a medium-range sniper, firing and, if successful, killing or wounding Russian soldiers. He used a rifle from a range of approximately quarter of a mile.

He served along the front line, defending eastern cities and towns such as Slovyansk, Izium and Kramatorsk.

Today speaking through an interpreter, Oksen recalled: “No one knows how they will react in an intense combat, when the artillery shells arrive and bullets are flying all around you.

“Some people freeze, some people panic, some people get very emotional.

“I first saw action in a village near Slovyansk. In some ways I was more worried about my reaction than the shelling!

“But I was lucky to be with a great unit and the commander gave me some good tips on how to act.

“All I can say is that I was satisfied with how I dealt with everything and gradually got used to life on the front line.”