The Mad and the Brave: the Untold Story of Ukraine's Foreign Legion

Colin Freeman is a former chief foreign correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph.

In his new book The Mad and the Brave, he tells the story of the Ukraine war through the eyes of Britons and Americans serving with Ukraine's International Legion.

The Legion was created three days into the Russian invasion, when President Volodymr Zelensky issued a desperate appeal for foreign military volunteers to help defend his country.

Colin's book recreates their lives on the frontlines, and asks why they chose to go in the first place, given that many had no prior military training.

Their experiences are frequently terrifying, sometimes tragic, sometimes comic, and sometimes glorious...

In conversation with Charles Hecker