professional soldier

Bairov, 22 and from Buryatia in eastern Siberia, had studied to be a food sanitation specialist but was drafted for mandatory military service and then signed a contract to become a professional soldier.

“There is a very strict selection process there. Everyone is a professional soldier – no conscripts,” he explains.

The decision to remove Gen Zaluzhnyi arrived at a time when the professional soldier was experiencing higher approval ratings than Mr Zelensky himself, spurring speculation that a rift had evolved between the two men.

In a tribute, his commanding officer Lt Col Jack Crossley described Sapper Morrison as a "professional soldier with much promise" who was a "loyal friend".

As a professional soldier based in Lviv in western Ukraine, Maksym had not told his mother that his air assault force had been sent south to stop the Russian offensive.