A former Stonehouse schoolboy is leading militia defending a key defensive point in Ukraine from Russian separatist forces, it has been reported.
Adam Osmayev, who attended Wycliffe College, is heading up a force defending the Ukranian city of Debaltseve from separatist forces backed by Russia.
The Daily Telegraph said Adam, 33, has been promoted to lead the band of volunteers after his predecessor Isa Munayev was killed in the bloody conflict.
His guardian at the fee-paying Wycliffe College was Robert Workman who looked after Adam after his arrival at the sixth form in 1994.
Mr Workman, 75, told The Telegraph: "Adam was a great lad. Lively, energetic, sometimes up to mischief, but always respectful."
His wife, Theresa Workman was quoted as saying: "The girls flocked round him. By the time he was in the upper sixth he was illegally hiring cars and taking them to B&Bs for the night."
She added: "To be honest I thought he was dead."
The battle for Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine has seen Adam, a native Chechen, and the men of his Dzhokar Dudayev Battalion engaged in fierce firefights and tank bombardments across the city's neighbourhoods, railway marshalling yards and road network.
