Former British Army soldier killed in Ukraine
A former British soldier who travelled to Ukraine to help clear landmines has been killed in an 'incident' in the east of the country.
Chris Garrett, 40, died near the town of Izyum, which is strewn with unexploded bombs and mines left over from the Russian retreat in 2022.
'On [Tuesday] Prevail received the devastating news that our co-founder and chairman alongside other team members were severely injured in an incident near Izyum,' said a spokesman for Prevail, a humanitarian agency founded by Garrett.
'We are still gathering information and working alongside military and police officials to uncover the details.
'We kindly request respect and privacy for the affected families and will provide timely updates when possible.'
Garrett, also known as Swampy, went to Ukraine to help soldiers clear mines and unexploded ordnance after Russia invaded Crimea in 2014.
He was recently sentenced in absentia to 14-and-a-half years in jail on terrorism charges by a kangaroo court in Donetsk, which is under Russian control.
Speaking in March, Garrett described the verdict as a 'pathetic attempt to smear me by those who have murdered, raped and tortured thousands of civilians in Ukraine'.
Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation into his death.
Garrett was one of two volunteers who died as they operated around Izyum, some 25 miles from the front line, where unexploded ordnance and mines pose a continuing hazard to civilian population.
A former tree surgeon from the Isle of Man, Mr Garrett spent much of the war detonating artillery shells and landmines placed by Russian troops retreating from their positions.
He told The Sun in 2022: 'I'm much more comfortable being on the front or close to it where I can switch off and just get on with the task.
'With a landmine or explosive it's either stable or it blows up – there's no in between. I seem to be better at blowing things up than I do keeping relationships.'
The newspaper reported Garrett was among the first to the visit the towns of Bucha and Irpin, which were the scenes of Russian massacres in 2022, and that he was among three people seriously wounded trying to clear minefields. A second man died, it said.
He had also briefly served in the British Army as a teenager before being taught how to clear mines in Myanmar.
Following his training, Garrett travelled to Ukraine and fought Russian-backed separatists alongside the Azov Brigade, which was then a volunteer militia.
Describing his work, he told Radio Liberty in 2022: 'You just know that with every single munition that you're removing – every bit of unexploded ordnance, you are removing a hazard for someone else. And the bulk of the time it's civilians that are getting hurt long after the war is finished.'
The Telegraph has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.
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