Two Britons who volunteered for Ukraine were killed during an attempted “humanitarian evacuation” in the town of Soledar, the scene of fierce clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces, one of the families revealed on Tuesday.
“It is with great sadness that we announce that our beloved Chrissy was killed along with her colleague Andrew Bagshaw as they attempted a humanitarian evacuation in Soledar.”in eastern Ukraine, Christopher Parry’s family said in a statement from the British Foreign Office.
“He couldn’t resist going to Ukraine in March, at the darkest moment at the beginning of the Russian invasion, to help those who needed it most, saving over 400 lives and those of many abandoned animals. .”added the family.
Christopher Parry, age 28, and Andrew Bagshaw, age 48 and living in pre-war New Zealand, have been missing for several weeks, according to the media in that country.
Businessman close to the Kremlin and founder of the Wagner paramilitary group, Evguéni Prigojine, announced on January 11 that his fighters had found the body of one of the British in Soledar.
This city in eastern Ukraine, which had a population of 10,000 before the war, was largely destroyed in bombing raids in early January.
A first humanitarian convoy arrived in Soledar on Friday to help the population.
The Russian army and the mercenaries of the Wagner group announced almost two weeks ago that they had captured this place near Bakhmout, which the Russians had been trying to capture for months.
However, the Ukrainians have not officially acknowledged Soledar’s fall and assure that fighting continues in the western zone.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced persons and nearly eight million to European countries – according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
Currently, 17.7 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The invasion, justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russian security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Minsk, and political and political impose economic sanctions on Moscow.
The UN presented 7,068 dead civilians and 11,415 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, underlining that these numbers are far below the actual ones.
Source: DN
