Two British aid volunteers, 28 and 48, killed attempting ‘humanitarian evacuation’ in Ukraine, family statement says
TWO British aid workers were killed during a humanitarian evacuation in Ukraine, according to their families.
Christopher Parry, 28 and Andrew Bagshaw, 48, were reported missing from the frontline in eastern Ukraine on January 6.
The two Brit volunteers disappeared while helping evacuate civilians in the city in the eastern Bakhmut region where there was heavy fighting.
And now a statement released by the Foreign Office, on behalf of Parry's family, said the pair were killed as they attempted a humanitarian evacuation from Soledar.
"It is with great sadness we have to announce that our beloved Chrissy has been killed along with his colleague Andrew Bagshaw whilst attempting a humanitarian evacuation from Soledar, eastern Ukraine," the family said.
"His selfless determination in helping the old, young and disadvantaged there has made us and his larger family extremely proud.
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"We never imagined we would be saying goodbye to Chris when he had such a full life ahead of him. He was a caring son, fantastic brother, a best friend to so many and a loving partner to Olga.
"Chris was a confident, outward-looking and adventurous young man who was loyal to everyone he knew.
"He lived and worked away as a software engineer but Cornwall was always his home. He loved rock climbing, cycling, running and skydiving and wanted to travel the world.
"He found himself drawn to Ukraine in March in its darkest hour at the start of the Russian invasion and helped those most in need, saving over 400 lives plus many abandoned animals.
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"It is impossible to put into words how much he will be missed but he will forever be in our hearts.
"We feel so privileged that he chose our family to be part of."
Earlier this month Russian forces brandished passports belonging to two Brits and claimed at least one is dead.
Pictures appearing to show the pair's UK passports were posted online by the pro-Putin Wagner private army.
Parry, a running coach from Cheltenham, previously told Sky News that his job was to drive about an hour to frontline villages to evacuate civilians.
He said: “I take each day as it comes. Sometimes when you see some pretty terrible things it does stay with you, for example the burnt out corpse of a mother who we had been evacuating.
“But you you’ve got a job. You’re in a position of care and as soon as you pick these people up you’ve got to get out and get away from the artillery, which is constantly going off around us.
“When you get back and think ‘that was kind of close that was only 100 metres away from us’ that's when you think maybe my luck might run out but it’ s worth it to save these people.”
He had been raising money through to buy a new off-road vehicle to carry out his work.
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While Bagshaw had been working as part of a team of Ukrainian and international volunteers delivering aid and evacuating citizens, reported
His parents Philip and Dame Susan Bagshaw, who founded of the Canterbury Charity Hospital, previously described their son as “a very intelligent, independently minded person”, who went to Ukraine as a volunteer to help people.
