LONDON (Reuters) -British voluntary aid workers Chris Parry and Andrew Bagshaw were killed during an attempted humanitarian evacuation in eastern Ukraine, Parry’s family said on Tuesday, weeks after they were reported missing in the war-torn country.
“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,” his family said.
“His selfless determination in helping the old, young and disadvantaged there has made us and his larger family extremely proud,” they added, in a statement released by Britain’s Foreign Office.
Sky News reported Bagshaw’s family as saying the pair was killed while trying to rescue an elderly woman from the town of Soledar.
Russia’s Wagner Group said earlier in January that its forces had found the body of one of the workers who had been reported missing in eastern Ukraine, the scene of heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.
Ukrainian police have said the two left the city of Kramatorsk for Soledar on Jan. 6 and were reported missing the next evening after contact with them was lost.
“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,” Parry’s family said of him on Tuesday.
No further details on the circumstances of their deaths were provided, and the Foreign Office said it was supporting the families.Â
(Reporting by Muvija MEditing by Rosalba O’Brien and Alistair Bell)
