Ex-British Soldier Killed Fighting for Ukraine

A soldier who left the British army in March to support Ukraine was killed in action (KIA) in the ongoing battle for the Severodonetsk city, Donetsk Region.

As per reports, there has been fierce street fighting in Severodonetsk with heavy artillery said to be causing huge casualties.

Father of Jordan Gatley, the former British serviceman, said on social media that his son had been training local forces, and was shot dead on the front line while defending the city. He is the second Briton to be killed in Russia’s war on Ukraine after the death of Scott Sibley in April.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commended Gatley, who had been deployed as a 'rifleman' with the Edinburgh-based third battalion of the Rifle.

Two other Britons, Shaun Pinner (48) and Aiden Aslin (28), fighting as part of the Ukrainian army to defend the southern port city of Mariupol were captured in April. The pair have been sentenced to death by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine. They were found “guilty” of “mercenary activities and committing actions aimed at seizing power and overthrowing the constitutional order of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)." Their families maintain they were fighting legitimately and should be treated as prisoners of war (POW). A friend of Aslin’s claimed he joined the Ukrainian marines in 2018 - long before Russia's invasion.