I will shout ‘God save the Queen’ when I fire weapon donated by Britain, reveals Ukrainian commander in missile-hit Lviv

BATTLE-hardened commander Lt Col ­Valeriy Kurko sips his coffee and praises the tank-busting weaponry donated from Britain.

He says of the shoulder-fired NLAW — Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon: “If I get to press the button I would shout God Save the Queen!”

The burly warrior, 51, may need all his fighting prowess.

For if Belarus enters the war from the north or Russian forces head west it’s Kurko and his men — based here in Lviv — who they will run into.

Kurko, the commander of the 103rd brigade of the Territorial Defence Force, added: “I’m ready to fight for my homeland and to defend our territory.”

Until last week this western Ukrainian city had been unscathed.

That changed on Friday when a barrage of six Russian cruise missiles were fired at Lviv from the Black Sea.

Two were intercepted but the others slammed into a maintenance site near the Lviv airport used to repair Ukraine’s MiG fighter jets.

Earlier last week, Russian missiles struck a training base to the west of Lviv, killing 35 and wounding dozens.

It served notice to Lviv’s 700,000-population that the war could be heading this way.

Since then, queues have grown longer at the city’s gun shop.

Many here are also on the lookout for Russian agents.

Armed soldiers are on the streets in increasing numbers and citizens are mobilising.

In a hipster-style arts venue, Taras Maselko, 36, from Pravda Brewery, shows me the 2,000 petrol bombs made for Kurko’s fighters.

Taras told me: “Normally we have festivals here and there’s a kindergarten, now we’re making weapons of war.

“Molotov cocktails can stop a tank if you hit them in the right place.”

In a workshop nearby, workers are making T-shirts bearing the legend: “Russian military ship go f*** yourself.”

The phrase — uttered by a Ukrainian soldier on a Black Sea island when asked to surrender by the Russian Navy — is a popular slogan.

Air raid sirens wail across the city several times each day.

Many shops, restaurants and bars are still open, albeit operating under curfew.

Many premises are keen to show patriotism and support for those at the front line.

A sign at the Kebab House says: “Today for defenders of Ukraine we are cooking free doner kebabs. Glory to Ukraine.”

Some 200,000 refugees are crammed into every available space in the city, from restaurant floors, to sports stadiums and church crypts.

Mum-of-two Yulia Kosilkova, 38, takes shelter in the Ukrainian Catholic University’s church when the air raid sirens sound.

The refugee said: “I feel safer in there, it has a calming atmosphere. You get used to the sirens.”

With its faded grandeur, Lviv was becoming a popular city break location before the war.

Now it is ready to fight and Kurko, a veteran of Ukraine’s eight-year war in the east with Russian-backed separatists, has a typically uncompromising message.

He says: “The motivation must be not to die for Ukraine, but to kill for Ukraine.”