A BRAVE Ukrainian boy has been manning a checkpoint in Ukraine with a toy Kalashnikov to protect his village.
Nazar, 10, who stands guard from 9am to 9pm every day with a group of young lads, said he’s not scared anymore after seeing the horrors of the war.
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The daring youngster said he felt he had no choice but to step up and help protect his family, friends and neighbours after Russian troops swarmed the village.
Dressed in a t-shirt, shorts and a Nike cap, he told Sky News: “They raped a woman in the school, there were a lot of children and women hiding in the basement.
“They forced them out and moved in, and they shone torches through people’s windows at night.
“And every day there were tanks and cars driving back and forth.”
While he brandishes a toy Kalashnikov, his pal holds a a small black toy BB gun as they stop cars at the checkpoint.
He said drivers are asked to say two Ukrainian words – words that are difficult to say in Russian – to see if they can pass.
The words are “Ukrazaliznitsa” and “Palianitsa” – one is a Ukrainian railway company, the other a type of Ukrainian bread.
Nazar said he once caught a Russian trying to pass the checkpoint.
He said: “A driver failed the test, but we let him pass. Next time we won’t be so lenient.”
It comes as an expert claimed the conflict has reached a “state of attrition” – with Russian forces severely outnumbered after 100 days since the invasion of Ukraine began.
Swedish economist and Russia expert Anders Aslund told The Sun: “At the 100-day mark, the war is at a stalemate.”
“Ukraine has all the soldiers it can possibly need. It can mobilise up to one million men.
“Russia, on the other hand, has a shortage of soldiers. Because this is not technically a war, Putin cannot legally send in conscripts.
“They are sending in more troops anyway, but they get around this by calling them contractor soldiers.”
He added: “However, if Putin did try to change the law, to force conscription, there would be massive opposition. For Ukraine, on the other hand, they will soon run out of ammunition and heavy artillery.
“Russia has piles and piles of artillery. Even though they have lost a lot of armed vehicles, tanks, and airplanes, this has now become an artillery war.”
Heroic Ukrainian soldiers have repelled a massive Russian blitz to reclaim a chunk of key city Severodonetsk.
Volodymr Zelensky’s forces have retaken a fifth of the area seized in the industrial heartland as they battle Vladimir Putin’s thugs in the eastern Donbas.
Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai hailed the success as a physical and psychological victory given the forces Russia has pumped into the region from other parts of Ukraine.
Analysts say holding Severodonetsk would be seen as another failure for Putin after his troops were pushed back from Kyiv.
Officials said yesterday nine attacks in Severodonetsk had been stopped in the previous 24 hours. Air defence units downed a cruise missile and three drones.
Ukraine is hoping to take delivery soon of advanced missile systems Britain and the US have pledged to provide, and on which its soldiers have started training.
Mr Haidai said: “As soon as we have enough Western long-range weapons, we will push their artillery away from our positions.
“And then, believe me, the Russian infantry, they will just run.”
