“Honestly, I think I’m at the end of my service. After this contract, that’s it. I’m done.”
Those are the weary words of a 39-year-old Queenslander who has spent over two years in the crucible of the world’s deadliest current battlefield.
It’s a conflict fast becoming defined by its mix of World War I-style trench warfare and dystopian hi-tech brutality; A war where footage of unmanned attack drones stalking human soldiers like prey through frozen fields floods social media feeds, and a war where survival is often measured in minutes rather than days.
Now, Casey Gadaleta from Caboolture near Brisbane, better known by his call sign “Dundee”, has had enough.
During the course of his war, Mr Gadaleta has survived a landmine blast, lost his leg, returned to the battlefield and risen to a command role.
He has witnessed close friends die, including fellow Australian Samuel Pedrazzini, and says the psychological toll of this new era of war is now becoming impossible to ignore.
News.com.au sat down with Mr Gadaleta in the safety of a quiet farming town several hours outside of Kyiv.
“I just think ‘no more’,” Mr Gadaleta said.
“My issues from combat are becoming more apparent now, I think my service is over.”
‘I lost my leg twice’
Mr Gadaleta first arrived in Ukraine in May 2024, where he signed a contract to join the Ukrainian army.
A standard contract is three years, but foreigners are able to cancel at a minimum of the six-month mark.
Base pay is 23,000 Ukrainian hryvnias a month (about $721); in combat, it’s supposed to be at least 120,000 hryvnias a month (about $3764), but soldiers regularly report payment issues.
Mr Gadaleta’s life changed forever on December 8, 2024, when he stepped on an antipersonnel mine during a mission into Russia’s Kursk region.
His six-man unit was approaching a Russian position through deep snow when the mine filled with shrapnel exploded.
“I didn’t even see the mine,” he said.
“It was remotely detonated; they saw us coming, and I was on point. It destroyed my leg and my hand.”
A firefight erupted as Russian forces advanced on the position.
Mr Gadaleta, who had medical training, said he was left for hours without proper treatment, using tourniquets to stem his own bleeding.
“I’m begging them, I’m breaking down,” he recalled.
“I shouted, ‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna freeze to death. I’m bleeding so much’.”
He said he spent about 20 hours fighting freezing conditions during the incident before eventually being extracted.
His lower leg remained attached, but the damage was catastrophic.
“The leg was still attached for three weeks, but it was destroyed,” he said.
After returning to Ukraine, he underwent treatment and eventually had the limb amputated.
But losing his leg was not the end of Mr Gadaleta’s war.
Just five months after leaving hospital, he returned to the battlefield with a prosthetic leg.
“I went back to Zaporizhzhia, and within two and a half minutes, I broke my leg again,” he said.
It was not a mine or bullet that caused the injury.
“I just got stuck in the mud while clearing a blind spot,” he said.
“My friend was going ‘Ruski, Ruski’ I turned my body and broke the leg.”
The injury became infected and eventually required further surgery and a higher amputation.
He has not returned to frontline assault operations since.
Instead, he now commands soldiers while helping recruit and manage experienced fighters.
He says he misses combat.
‘I think my mental health is finished’
Mr Gadaleta says his reasons for coming to Ukraine have not changed; what has changed is his ability to keep going.
“I think my mental health is finished,” he said.
“Even though I’m not in assault anymore, I still command assault guys.
“We’ve had guys in my brigade die recently — one died, one lost both legs, another lost a leg and a hand.
“Seeing my men and brothers dying makes me think I need a break.”
He said he had recently stayed awake for five days during a mission, and, while on another stretch, he got just two hours of sleep across three days.
“I’m tired,” he said. “I’m just angry.”
Mr Gadaleta said noises like car engines revving put him on edge and he recently smashed up a room after someone set off a training grenade inside.
His decision totake a step back from the war has also been complicated by the deaths of men he considered close friends.
Australian volunteer Samuel Pedrazzini, 26, from NSW’s Northern Rivers, was killed in a Russian ambush on June 13 this year.
Mr Gadaleta said the pair had spent time together in Lviv.
“He was my boy,” he said.
“He died, and I didn’t get to go to the funeral because I was on a mission. It’s really hard.”
Mr Gadaleta said another friend, a Brazilian named De La Cruz, had also recently been killed.
“We just lost three guys — two casualties and one died just now in Kramatorsk,” he said.
“I lost my good friend De La Cruz as well.”
Mr Gadaleta said De La Cruz was the only one who carried him out of the trench when he injured his leg the second time.
“By himself! No help from anyone! Then carried me to the evacuation point. While I was in hospital getting my second amputation, he was cut in half by artillery.
“It was very hard to deal with.”
‘I don’t hate them’: Fighter’s dramatic change
Despite everything he has seen, Mr Gadaleta says his attitude towards Russian soldiers has changed dramatically.
“At first it was about killing as many as possible. But now it’s more about, ‘Can we get these guys and swap them over for our guys?’” he said.
“I don’t hate them. I want them to go home and put their weapons down.”
He recalled one encounter with a young Russian soldier that continues to haunt him.
“I shot a 19-year-old in the face once,” he said.
“He was smoking a cigarette with no helmet.
“He looked at me, and I stood on a rock — that stays with me.”
Mr Gadaleta said the psychological impact of war had less to do with his own injuries, but rather with watching other soldiers suffer.
“I think the trauma of combat isn’t even about you,” he said.
“It’s about watching your friends or your brigade get destroyed.”
“My biggest regret was thinking I could handle it.”
A history-making Australian
It is believed Mr Gadaleta is the first documented case of an Australian soldier engaged in combat and injured inside Russian territory in the modern era.
His unit was involved in fighting Russian and North Korean forces during operations in Kursk.
“We were stuck in Russia for 20 hours,” he said.
“But I think coming back was the proudest moment.”
His return to the battlefield after losing his leg was itself a remarkable decision.
Mr Gadaleta had originally travelled to Ukraine after becoming horrified by reports of alleged Russian atrocities against civilians.
He had no previous military experience before volunteering, undergoing intensive training with the Ukrainian Armed Forces before being deployed.
By the time he was wounded, he had spent months learning the realities of frontline combat.
After returning to Ukraine following his first recovery, he was promoted into a command position because of his experience.
He says the Ukrainian military remains desperately short of experienced personnel.
“Training people takes time, resources and money,” he said.
“I’m valuable based on my training and experience.
“Good people are hard to come by.”
Since the visit in early August, Mr Gadaleta has decided to return home.
“American or Australian soldiers don’t stay in combat all the time; they have rotation,” he said.
“I’ve spent long enough in combat.”
Pay Issues
Mr Gadaleta also cited administrative issues with the Ukrainian army as a contributing factor in his ultimate decision to resign.
“I’ve only ever been paid properly three times. This is why I sold my property in SA because I couldn’t afford to live in between missions. We have to pay for our own rent, food and equipment.”
Soldier pay issues have plagued the Ukrainian army in recent years; money from foreign aid makes up a huge part of financing war efforts but is legally unable to go directly to paying soldiers, meaning the money must be found internally within the Ukrainian budget.
Mr Gadaleta said some soldiers on missions lasting between 30 and 60 days were receiving a base pay of about 23,000 hryvnias, when they should be receiving about 200,000 hryvnias ($A6200) according to army contract stipulations.
He also claimed some soldiers were sent to battle without the required training or experience.
For a man who less than a year ago returned to war just months after losing his leg, the prospect of finally stepping away is clearly complicated.
He admits there is still an internal battle.
“When I was in the hospital here for three months and at home for another couple, all I wanted to do was come back,” he said.
“There is an internal struggle, but I think it’s almost over.”
His prosthetic socket is now causing problems, and his body is giving him another reason to stop.
“My stump shrinks, so it’s not stable,” he said.
But after years of fighting, losing friends and losing part of himself, the thing he wants most is not another mission; it’s a beach.
“I miss Australia,” he said.
Mr Gadaleta has returned to Brisbane after some internal disputes led to his resignation, and although he hasn’t yet decided whether it will be for good, his plans are remarkably simple.
“Beach, 100 per cent,” he said.
“I’ll go to Bribie Island because I used to live there. Me and my brother are going to Noosa. My friends from home are meeting me there, and we’re just going to chill.”
And for now, after everything he has survived, Mr Gadaleta says he believes it may finally be time to come home.
“I’m so tired,” he said. “I just want to relax.”