A badly-wounded Kiwi sniper carried his injured twin brother – a former SAS member - through intense rocket and gunfire to safety during one of the bloodiest battles in the Russia-Ukraine War, according to a new book.  And once his sibling was in hospital receiving lifesaving care, the young New Zealander - who had also suffered a shrapnel wound to the leg - hitchhiked back to the front line to rejoin his squad mates, the book says.  The heroics of the soldier are described by the military historian and author Shannon Monaghan, who is the partner of one of his former colleagues in the Ukraine International Legion.  To Die with Such Men is based off interviews Monaghan had with members of her partner’s unit – a squad she said included the Kiwi sniper she called Ramsey and his twin, a former SAS trooper she called Will. Some names in the book were changed for privacy.  Monaghan said she also drew on bodycam footage the soldiers captured while fighting.  That includes accounts of the Battle of Bakhmut; which military researchers have described as a “meat grinder” and the “bloodiest of the 21st century”.  A new book describes the heroics of a Kiwi soldier who saved his seriously injured twin brother under heavy fire in Ukraine. Herald composite photo / Getty Images  Monaghan wrote that when the unit – dubbed Black Team – arrived in Bakhmut in January 2023, the “small city was cold and apocalyptic, with the sound of guns and artillery booming almost constantly, a Stalingrad-like feel with oddly modern twists, like the little quadcopter drones [squad member] Ragnar spotted overhead dangling grenades under their bellies”.  Will and Ramsey were part of an eight-strong assault team charged with clearing four houses near where Russians were known to be based, Monaghan wrote.  The first three houses were cleared with no contact, but as they approached the fourth, “Russian RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] started flying towards the fire support team.  “A massive explosion shook the assault team,” Monaghan wrote in To Die with Such Men.  “Afterwards Ramsey thought it must have been an RPG fired from an elevated position in the house, because it was so accurate. Ramsey saw his twin brother Will, who had been standing right in front of him, go down”.  An aerial view of the city of Bakhmut which has been virtually flattened. Photo / Getty Images  Another member said over the radio, “I’m hit, I’m hit”, while a third “was down hard”.  A badly-injured Ramsey and another unit member named Greg – who later died in the firefight – moved into lifesaving mode, the book stated.  “Ramsey, nearly blind in one eye from debris and bleeding from shrapnel in his leg, leapt forward with Greg to pull the three wounded men out of the line of fire as the enemy started to shoot airburst munitions at them.  At least five New Zealanders have died in Ukraine, including (left to right) Dominic Abelen, Kane Te Tai, Andrew Bagshaw and Shan-Le Kearns. New Zealand Herald composite photo  “Will had bad injuries to his chest and abdomen: one leg was ripped open. Ramsey put on tourniquets as best he could, then went back to link up with the Quick Reaction Force (QRF). When Ramsey returned, he briefly helped Greg, who was working alone to save Marti and Dan under heavy fire.”  The book says Ramsey then made the call to get his brother to urgent medical help. He took off his battle kit, put his seriously injured twin brother on his shoulder and ran back through enemy fire to a house where a QRF was waiting.  Frustrated at ambulance delay, twin took action  A vehicle arrived to collect casualties, but according to the book the driver indicated he wanted to wait for more than just the injured Kiwi before heading to a nearby hospital.  “As two men were speaking, the vehicle started moving,” Monaghan wrote.  Ukrainian military members at a machine gun position du...