British military volunteer is killed while fighting for Ukraine

A British military volunteer has been killed while fighting for Ukraine in some of the country’s fiercest battles against Russia.

Jay Morais, 52, from Bristol, took part in street fighting in Severodonetsk last summer and more recently in Bakhmut, according to The Telegraph. Both are located in the eastern Donbas region, where Kiev forces continue to hold back Moscow forces.

The paper reported that the Ukrainian International Legion had confirmed his death on Tuesday night, saying he died in a hospital in Kharkiv in February, while his Ukrainian fiancé told the publication, “I still can’t really believe he’s dead.”

A British Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed to MailOnline that it was supporting the family of a man who had died in Ukraine.

Founded last year by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the International Legion is open to fighters from abroad with military experience who want to take up arms against the Russian invaders to help Kiev’s armed forces in the conflict.

“Unfortunately, Jay Morais died in the line of duty,” a Legion spokesman said, according to The Telegraph. It added that no further details were provided.

A Facebook post from the International Legion’s March 24 memorial page also appeared to confirm Morais’s death.

“Please help us honor him so he isn’t forgotten,” the post said, along with a photo of Morais wearing a Union Jack and a Portuguese flag over it – suggesting he was of British and Portuguese descent.

“Our beloved Portuguese brother Jay Morais, who had served as a volunteer in Ukraine, died on the battlefield.

“Honor, glory and gratitude to our brother,” the post added.

Under the post, tributes poured in from Ukrainian followers thanking him for his services. “Great selfless hero, may you rest in eternal glory and never be forgotten,” one wrote. Another said, ‘Rest in peace brave warrior. We won’t forget you.’

The newspaper reported that Morais had spoken briefly with his reporters last summer about his fighting time in Severodonetsk.

The Donbas city became the center of heavy fighting last year as Russia refocused its military efforts after withdrawing from the regions around Kiev.

The battle lasted about four months and the city finally fell to Putin’s forces after the Ukrainian government ordered its own government to withdraw on 24 June.

The city’s capture by Russian forces is credited as one of Russia’s last major gains before Moscow’s westward advance came to a halt and Ukraine launched two major counter-offensives in the north and south to successfully seize parts of the territory. recapture.

Since Ukraine’s offensives in the north and south, the front lines have been largely entrenched, with only minor shifts.

Morais told The Telegraph at the time that several of his comrades had been killed or wounded fighting to defend Severodonetsk.

During one fight, he was told to “run for my bloody life” down a city street while being chased by a Russian tank.

He also told the newspaper that the fighting was so fierce that other volunteers, including experienced soldiers, had left the city. However, he chose to say.

According to the publication, Morais said he had previously spent time in the French Foreign Legion, for whom he served in Kosovo and Ivory Coast. He left in 2007 and returned to Britain.

However, with no wife or children at home, the newspaper said he went to fight in Ukraine last year to prevent Russia from “doing what it wants.” While there, he met Lidiya Martynova, 34, and the couple got engaged.

She told The Telegraph that her late fiancé was a “very special man” and a “professional soldier” who stressed that – as a soldier – it was not important how many enemies he had killed, “but how many people he had saved.” ‘

“I still can’t really believe he’s dead. He planned to stay here in Ukraine after the war to start a new life here,” she told the publication.

While it was not specified where Morais was killed, it was reported that he had been fighting in Bakhmut, where the most intense fighting since the start of the war has been raging for months – and where both sides have suffered thousands of casualties.

Located southwest of Severodonetsk, the city has been described as a ‘meat grinder’, similar to the battles of World War I.

Trench warfare has become the norm, with Russia making only marginal gains at the cost of large numbers of soldiers. More recently, Russia has shown signs of a ‘scorched earth’ approach, bombing large parts of the city with firebombs.

By defending the city so fiercely, Ukraine also lost many troops.

Morais had previously told The Telegraph that the fighting there was ‘full on’, but that the hardest part of the job was delivering bad news to the relatives of soldiers under his own command who had died in the fighting there.

Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told MailOnline: “We supported the family of a British man following his death in Ukraine.”

Confirmation of Morais’s death came as the Ukrainian army said on Wednesday it had severely damaged, but not completely destroyed, the Russian 72nd separate motor rifle brigade near Bakhmut a day earlier.

It emphasized that the eastern city remained Moscow’s main target.

Images emerged overnight that seemed to confirm that the Russian brigade had withdrawn from its position, allowing Ukraine to advance.

The news came at an embarrassing time for Putin, who, on the same day as the battlefield defeat, organized Russia’s annual Victory Day parade to mark the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

Russian forces have been trying to take the eastern city for nine months, with a deluge of troops and weapons, despite it having a questionable strategic advantage.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukrainian forces in the east, said the situation in Bakhmut remained “difficult” but Moscow was increasingly forced to deploy regular forces due to heavy casualties among the Wagner army group.

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose private Wagner Group fights in Bakhmut, said on Tuesday that the 72nd Separate Motor Rifle Brigade had abandoned its positions and fled.

He suggested that as a result of Moscow losing his position, Wagner had suffered as many as 500 casualties in the fighting.

“Unfortunately, they have not yet destroyed the whole (Russian) brigade, two companies are seriously damaged there,” Cherevatyi said on TV.

“The situation (in Bakhmut) remains difficult because for the enemy, despite all the white noise Prigozhin is trying to create, it (Bakhmut) is (still) the main direction of attack, the main coveted target.”

The confirmation also came as tributes poured in for Arman Soldin, the Agence France-Presse journalist who was killed near Bakhmut.

Soldin, who worked as the new agency’s video coordinator for Ukraine, was killed in a Grad missile strike near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

He was traveling with Ukrainian soldiers with a team of AFP journalists when the group came under fire. The rest of the team escaped unhurt.

Today, his colleagues ceremoniously gathered at the press agency’s headquarters in Paris, a day after his death, to pay tribute to the 32-year-old.

A much-broadcast photo of Soldin, pictured in protective gear and smiling broadly with a cat perched on his shoulder, has plucked the hearts of the French nation and many others abroad.

“Arman was so enthusiastic, so energetic, so alive that it seems surreal to be here this morning and talk about it,” said Juliette Hollier-Larousse, AFP deputy news director.

The British Downing Street also paid tribute to the ‘talented and courageous’ journalist.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said 32-year-old Arman Soldin’s work for the news agency had been “vital” in shedding light on Putin’s invasion.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘Arman was a talented and courageous journalist and his death is clearly devastating to all who knew him.

“Journalism continues to shine a light in the darkness of this war and Arman’s work has been essential to that end.

“Any deaths in this unnecessary invasion are tragic and our thoughts remain with all those who have lost loved ones during this conflict.”

At least 10 media workers are said to have died while covering the war in Ukraine.