BREAKING NEWS Hero Brit volunteer, 40, is killed while trying to clear Russian mines in Ukraine
The British founder of a bomb disposal charity is believed to have been killed in Ukraine after a Russian court sentenced him to 14 years in jail.
Chris Garrett was among three people said to have been critically injured in an incident near Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast on Tuesday.
He was reportedly wounded while trying to clear minefields, according to The Sun.
Shaun Pinner, a former British soldier and Ukraine war prisoner, said today that Mr Garrett and another individual, who was not named, had 'sadly passed away'.
'I can confirm that Chris was among those who died,' he wrote on X today. 'Our thoughts and prayers are with the families affected.'
Mr Garrett was a British volunteer from the Isle of Man, working in Ukraine to clear landmines from the war-torn country.
He was the founder of Prevail, a charity providing training to others in how to safely remove undetonated explosives.
Nearly a third of Ukraine is estimated to have been 'contaminated' by explosive ordnance.
Charities warn that landmines pose an 'ever-present danger' to civilian communities, with 'children particularly at risk'.
Earlier this year, Mr Garrett was sentenced to 14 and a half years in jail by a Russian proxy court.
He was convicted of terrorism charges in his absence by a court under Russian control, while using his skills as a bomb disposal expert to defuse and remove materiel left behind by Russian troops.
'The charges are ridiculous,' he said at the time, as reported by ITV.
'I mean, charged for terrorism by volunteering, or at times, being under contract by the Ukrainian armed forces.'
Mr Garrett was working in Ukraine to clear landmines years before the full Russian invasion in February 2022.
In 2016, two years after the illegal annexation of Crimea, Mr Garrett said that he was clearing landmines with a volunteer battalion as part of the Ukrainian National Guard.
Tributes poured in for Mr Garrett with the news of his death.
One X user wrote: 'He and the team were very courageous and brave. Their heroic legacy of brave actions and sacrifice will live on forever.'
Another reflected: 'I remember talking to the guy on here just after the war started I remember thinking then this guy and team are doing amazing things for Ukrainians - saddened by this loss but at least there's a legacy born from the team that'll always be remembered.'
Shaun Pinner, who wrote of Mr Garrett's tragic passing on X, was a prisoner of war in Ukraine, captured by Russian forces in 2022.
Mr Pinner signed up to be a contracted soldier in Ukraine's military in 2018, rising through the ranks after serving with the British Army for nine years.
He was captured by Russian forces during the siege of Mariupol in April 2022.
Mr Pinner said he was brutally beaten, electrocuted and starved by his captors over five months in captivity - treatment he said infringed his human rights and entitled him to compensation.
A Kyiv court ruled last April that he had been inhumanely treated and that the Russian Federation must compensate him accordingly.
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Why Duchess is determined to expose darkest horrors of war
The Duchess of Edinburgh would like to be put out of a job. 'It's a privilege,' she says of her work with victims of sexual violence in war. 'I just wish it would get less.' Saying 'the stories never get any easier and they never change', she adds of her travel to conflict zones around the world: 'It doesn't seem to stop.' The Duchess is speaking as she visits the Imperial War Museum's first exhibition about the untold stories of war. From Second World War child evacuees to Ukrainian women today, she sees six rooms of evidence, first-hand testimonies and photographs that detail how rape has been, and still is, used as a weapon of war. 'We have to help people to understand that they [victims] are not the ones who have the shame, they are not the ones whose lives should be destroyed,' the Duchess says. 'We have to do better.' Her visit to the exhibition, Unsilenced, comes ahead of International Day to End Sexual Violence in Conflict on June 19. And it follows Sophie's trips to Kosovo, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Chad to hear from rape survivors and their children. In October 2024, she became the first member of the Royal family to visit Ukraine since the Russian invasion. The war in Europe, the Duchess says, has brought sexual violence 'into stark reality' for the public in Britain. 'A lot more people are more aware ... because suddenly it's happened where people can suddenly see it and it's more related to them,' she said. 'Suddenly it's being brought into sharp focus. When we have a conflict in Europe, it brings it into stark reality but we must not forget conflicts in Africa. 'They are just as important. Sometimes I just feel, sadly, that Sudan and the DRC, they get slightly swept aside.' 'People can only cope with a certain amount,' she adds. 'What do you do? What's the most important conflict? They all seem to get drowned out. 'It's very hard so we have to keep going. Exhibitions like these are very important. Just to bring it to the wider awareness of the public.' It is a mission that has been close to her heart for some time. It is also one of the most challenging topics imaginable for a member of the Royal family. When she became a full time working Royal in 2002, the Duchess tried several routes to find patronages and causes that she could get her teeth into. She leaned into a natural interest in gender equality, founded the Women's Network Forum in 2014, and was drawn into events for the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, meeting Angelina Jolie, its co-founder, at the Royal Festival Hall in 2018. 'Profoundly moved by the things she has learnt' The following year, when Sophie, then the Countess of Wessex, announced she would be working formally with the organisation, a Palace source told The Telegraph: 'This a new strand of work for HRH, something she has been slowly stepping into and engaging with over recent months. 'She has been profoundly moved by the things she's learnt.' There was something about the topic that 'just clicked for her', another insider says now. 'It's a very genuine thing she's really committed herself to. She wants to be of use, to draw attention to something that will make a difference. 'She's met a lot of survivors over the years and carries that with her.' It is not an easy subject to have chosen. The extreme graphic details the Duchess hears are difficult to share with the world; the impact and progress of her campaigning impossible to measure as wars continue to rage around the world. Practical and operating largely under the radar – her engagements are not covered by the press generally – it does not seem to particularly deter her. She speaks carefully (thanks to her previous career in PR) but confidently: in 2019, addressing the Commonwealth women's affairs ministers meeting in Kenya, she called for a ' sustainable and feminist peace '. At the exhibition, she asks repeatedly whether victims of sexual violence have been consulted in putting the exhibit together. 'The stories bring you to your knees' The Duchess has described how she was left 'completely and utterly floored' the first time she heard testimony from a survivor. Until then, she told the BBC in 2021, she had read about it in 'very dry' briefing notes and statistics. 'It was truly upsetting,' she said of hearing directly from women. 'But I feel in a way it was really important to hear the actual reality.' 'When you hear someone's story of gang rape it absolutely brings you to your knees. I had tears falling off my face when she was talking to me. I was completely silent but I was in floods of tears.' Every story, she says, lives with her. 'It seems so enormous. I was thinking how on earth am I going to be able to make even a tiny bit of difference. I have to concentrate on one foot in front of the other,' she said. At the Imperial War Museum, the Duchess wears her heart on her sleeve. She snorts at the differing advice for men and women for preventing the spread of venereal disease during the Second World War (the women always to blame), and wryly declares the use of paintings of half-naked women being allowed on RAF airplane noses up until 2007 'surprising'. Shown papers relating to the abuse of Second World War evacuees and told about British, French and US soldiers also being known to have committed abuse – albeit not state-sanctioned – the Duchess agreed: 'It's not just happening to foreigners by foreigners. 'It is endemic around the world, which is why it's such an important thing to recognise and address.' The exhibition contains items from the First World War onwards. The Duchess was shown sections relating to the 'Comfort Women Corps' in the Second World War in Japan, the Yazidi women enslaved by Islamic State in 2014, and the treatment of Bosnian children born of sexual violence in conflict. 'Did you work with survivors?' she asked Helen Upcraft, the lead curator, and Jack Davies, the exhibitions manager. 'Obviously it's about them, their voices are important. We don't want to talk about them without them feeling they have had representation and the ability to tell their own stories.' The small show has been developed alongside four NGOs: Women for Women International, All Survivors Project, Free Yezidi Foundation and Waging Peace. Artwork ends exhibition on positive note 'This is such a huge subject, so many have been and are being affected by it,' the Duchess added, hearing that the exhibition wa designed to end on a positive note, with a traditional cloth artwork called Peace by Piece, created by Sudanese women. 'It's very easy to leave people feeling utterly depressed and bereft.' She suggests that there could be a wall or table at the end for visitors to write their final thoughts or messages on. Told that the exhibition has been seen by university students, but is for over-16s only due to its content, the Duchess agrees: 'You don't want to traumatise them.' Nevertheless, she suggests, the explanation of power dynamics could be useful when 'they're trying to navigate themselves through school and all the social media'. 'Hopefully they won't ever come into contact with this sort of thing, but there is a chance that they might and having that wider knowledge is important,' she added. Congratulated for her own work with survivors through the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative, Sophie said: 'If only we could do ourselves out of a job.' In October last year, The Telegraph travelled with the Duchess to the refugee camp of Adré on the Chad-Sudan border, where she met victims of rape and torture living as refugees. The Duchess, who was seen in tears after leaving a tent where she spoke to women about all they had suffered, said: 'What they have all witnessed is complete atrocity.' In April 2024, she travelled to Ukraine to meet survivors of sexual violence, and discussed how to support them with Volodymyr Zelensky and Olena Zelenska, Ukraine's president and first lady. She is intending to make further trips overseas to highlight the issue, but no destinations have been confirmed yet. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, who has travelled widely with the Duchess to areas including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has praised her ability to make people feel at ease and her 'deeply human personal skills'. Speaking in Nepal towards the end of a six-day Royal tour in February, the Duchess said of victims of human trafficking and sexual violence: 'If people in my position don't champion people like that, they have very little voice. 'And to change behaviours you have to keep banging the drum. So I keep on banging the drum.'
The Sun
11 hours ago
- The Sun
Putin plotting to blitz Ukraine with ‘vicious & unrelenting' revenge strike in days after Op Spiderweb, US insiders warn
VLADIMIR Putin is preparing a "huge, vicious and unrelenting" revenge assault on Ukraine just days after Operation Spiderweb, U.S. and Western officials have warned. Insiders said the Kremlin's full-scale retaliation for last week's stunning drone blitz on four key Russian airbases hasn't yet materialized - but it is coming very soon. 12 12 12 The revenge strike will be "asymmetrical" and likely to feature a mix of drones and missiles aimed at symbolic Ukrainian targets - not just military assets, one U.S. official told Reuters. Another said the operation could begin within days. A senior Western diplomat added: "It will be huge, vicious and unrelenting. "But the Ukrainians are brave people." On Friday, Russia unleashed a fierce missile and drone barrage on Kyiv, killing at least six and injuring over 80, but American officials say this may only be the beginning. Russia's Defense Ministry called it a response to "terrorist acts" by Ukraine - but insiders say the real retaliation is still being assembled behind the scenes. U.S. officials believe the SBU — Ukraine's security service — may be directly targeted in the revenge strike. Carnegie Endowment analyst Michael Kofman told Reuters: "Most likely, they will attempt to retaliate against (SBU) headquarters, or other regional intelligence administration buildings. "In general, Russia's ability to substantially escalate strikes from what they are already doing — and attempting to do over the past month — is quite constrained." 12 PUTIN'S $7bn HUMILIATION The looming storm follows Operation Spiderweb - Ukraine's most daring covert strike yet. It was led personally by spy chief Vasyl Malyuk under the direct orders of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Over 117 kamikaze drones were launched from hidden mobile units disguised as everyday cargo trucks, slipped undetected into Russian territory. New footage released on Saturday by Ukraine's SBU shows an FPV drone lifting off from a lorry rooftop before smashing directly into a Russian bomber at the Belaya airfield. The strikes hit four strategic bases - Belaya, Dyagilevo, Olenya, and Ivanovo — torching aircraft capable of launching nuclear warheads. Ukrainian officials say 41 planes were destroyed or damaged. U.S. intelligence puts the figure closer to 20, with at least 10 completely destroyed - still a staggering blow to Russia's long-range bomber fleet. The $7billion damage, inflicted with zero boots on the ground, has left the Kremlin tyrant furious and determined to reassert its military dominance. 12 12 'IT'S NOT GOING TO BE PRETTY' President Donald Trump revealed this week that he spoke directly with Putin on Wednesday. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the Russian despot told him "he will have to respond" to the drone attack. Speaking to reporters later, Trump added: "It's probably not going to be pretty. I don't like it. "I said: 'Don't do it. You shouldn't do it. You should stop it.' "But, again, there's a lot of hatred." Meanwhile, Russia's propaganda machine is framing the war as existential. Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared Friday: "This is about the future of our children, of our country." 12 BLITZ ALREADY UNDERWAY? While officials say the major strike is still to come, Ukraine is already reeling from a brutal few days of missile and drone attacks. On Friday, 400 drones and 45 missiles rained down on cities across the country. In Kyiv, explosions lit up the night sky near the Mother Ukraine monument. A fire tore through the 11th floor of a residential block in Solomyanskyi, and emergency crews rushed to save civilians trapped inside. Overnight into Saturday, Kharkiv suffered Russia's largest airstrike yet, killing three - including a baby and a 14-year-old girl - and wounding 21. 'We have a lot of damage,' Kharkiv's mayor Ihor Terekhov said. At least 18 apartment buildings and 13 homes were hit, with more strikes reported in Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil, and Odesa. Ukraine's Air Force said it shot down 174 out of 206 drones and nine missiles overnight. 12 SUMMER OFFENSIVE BREWING Western analysts say Mad Vlad is not just seeking revenge - but a breakthrough. Reports from Ukrainian intelligence suggest up to 125,000 troops are massing near the Sumy and Kharkiv frontiers, with fears of a three-pronged summer assault to finally break the deadlock. The offensive is expected to focus on Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, and Pokrovsk in the Donbas - with plans to encircle key cities rather than slug it out street by street. Military analyst Konrad Muzyka told The Telegraph Russia's tactics have evolved: "We have seen the Russians shift to focused, small-unit attacks, often of just three to five men. "Company-size assaults of 50 to 100 men hardly ever happen anymore." But Ukraine, armed with drones and Western weapons, isn't backing down. Zelensky warned this week: "Even after all of Russia's horrific attacks, he is reportedly preparing yet more so-called 'responses.' "With every new strike, with every delay of diplomacy, Russia is giving the finger to the entire world." 12
The Independent
13 hours ago
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky condemns ‘pure terrorism' as Putin's forces hit Kharkiv with new strikes
Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Vladimir Putin 's forces of 'pure terrorism' after Russia launched two rounds of devastating attacks on Kharkiv 's civilians on Saturday. An initial series of overnight missile and drone strikes – described by Kharkiv's mayor Ihor Terekhov as the 'most powerful attack' of the war so far – killed at least three people and injured 21 others, with a six-week-old baby and a 14-year-old girl among the wounded. Ukraine 's second city was again struck later on Saturday afternoon with guided aerial bombs. Warning that at least one person had been killed and more than 40 wounded in the second attack, Mr Zelensky said: 'This is another savage killing. Aerial bombs were dropped on civilians in the city – there is even a children's railway nearby. 'This makes no military sense. This is pure terrorism This cannot be turned a blind eye to. And this is not some kind of game. Every day, we lose our people only because Russia feels it can act with impunity. Russia must be firmly forced into peace.' The strikes on Kharkiv came amid Russia's second-largest overnight missile and drone attack of the war so far, which targeted nearly 20 locations across Ukraine and involved 452 projectiles, the Ukrainian Air Force said. UK to give Ukraine 100,000 drones by April The UK pledged to send 100,000 drones to Ukraine by the end of April, stating that such unmanned aerial vehicles were changing modern wars. The promised number of drones is valued at £350 million and marks a tenfold increase from the UK's target of 10,000 in 2024. "The UK is stepping up its support for Ukraine by delivering hundreds of thousands more drones this year and completing a major milestone in the delivery of critical artillery ammunition," defence secretary John Healey said. The decision by the UK comes after Ukraine attacked Russian airbases with over 100 drones last weekend, damaging several warplanes. "We are learning lessons every day from the battlefield in Ukraine, which British companies are using to develop advanced new drones to help protect Ukraine's civilians and also strengthen our own national security," Mr Healey said. Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 08:00 Zelensky labels Russian attacks 'pure terrorism' Following the death of at least 4 people in Kharkiv due to Russian drone and missile strikes since Friday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called Moscow's act "pure terrorism". "This is another savage killing. Aerial bombs were dropped on civilians in the city — there is even a children's railway nearby," the Ukrainian president said. "This makes no military sense. This is pure terrorism," Mr Zelensky said in a post on X. At least two people were killed in Russian strikes on Kharkiv since last evening, with at least 18 people injured. Rescuers are still searching for those trapped under the rubble with many more feared dead. "In more than 11 years of Russia's war against Ukraine, they have brought only one new thing to our land, and this is really the most widespread Russian product – ruins and death," Mr Zelensky said. Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 07:30 Polish president-elect says he's against Ukraine joining EU Polish president-elect Karol Nawrocki said yesterday that he was "against Ukraine's entry into the European Union". "On the one hand, we must support Ukraine in its conflict with the Russian Federation, but Ukraine must understand that other countries, including Poland, Hungary, and other European countries, also have their own interests," Nawrocki told Hungarian outlet Mandiner. The president-elect has repeatedly accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky of taking advantage of allies. "I see Ukraine as a country that, although it is very bravely defending itself against the Russian Federation, must also respect the interests of other countries that otherwise support Ukraine," he said. Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 07:15 Russia accuses Europe of obstructing peace in Ukraine Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov blamed Europe for being the main obstacle to negotiating peace with Ukraine. Mr Ryabkov accused German chancellor Friedrich Merz of opposing peace in Ukraine and of trying to convince American president Donald Trump to return the US to the "path of escalation" in the war. He claimed the US was aware Russia would not stray from its goal of eliminating the "root causes" of the war, a phrase the Kremlin has used to call for regime change in Kyiv since the start of its invasion of Ukraine. Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 07:00 Russia's missile and drone attack on Kharkiv in pictures Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 06:45 Ukraine denies Russia's claim of Kyiv postponing prisoner swap Ukraine has refuted Russia's claim that it delayed an exchange of prisoners of war and bodies of fallen soldiers planned for Saturday and Sunday. Kyiv and Moscow had agreed on a major swap of prisoners, including of severely injured soldiers on both sides following peace talks in Istanbul last week. Russia had also offered to return the bodies of 6,000 fallen Ukrainian soldiers and officers. But on Saturday, the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky accused the Ukrainian side of postponing the transfer of bodies and the POW exchange "indefinitely". Ukraine's defence ministry refuted the claim. "Unfortunately, the Ukrainian side is once again facing attempts to retroactively revise agreements. If the Russian side is now backing away from what was promised in Istanbul, it raises serious questions about the reliability and capability of their negotiating team," Ukraine's defence ministry said in a post on Telegram. Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 06:30 Ukraine drone attacks lead to closure of key Moscow airports A Ukrainian drone attack forced closure of two of the key airports serving Moscow, Russia said early on Sunday. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russia air defence units destroyed nine Ukrainian drones heading towards Moscow around 4am GMT. There was no immediate comment on the strikes from Ukraine. Ukrainian drones also attacked the Azot chemical plant in Russia's Tula region, sparking a short-lived fire, Reuters reported. Russia's civil aviation authority announced halting of flights at the Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports to ensure air safety. Vishwam Sankaran8 June 2025 06:15 Editorial | Zelensky has exposed Putin for what he really is Today's editorial in The Independent states: Mr Zelensky has .. exposed Mr Putin for what he really is. The Ukrainian president has given the Russian leader every chance for peace. He has been prepared to compromise on territory and alliances in a way that no leader of a sovereign nation should be asked to do. And yet Mr Putin presses on, making it abundantly clear, even to Mr Trump, that it is the Kremlin that is the obstacle to peace. Even if Mr Trump's apparent taking of sides with Mr Putin against the Ukrainian people were a cunning plan to soothe the paranoid mystical nationalism of Mr Putin and his cronies, it has not worked. Mr Putin has made it clear that he will be satisfied by nothing less than the subjugation of the whole of Ukraine by force of arms. In which case, he must be resisted. Mr Trump is right about one thing: that war is a terrible thing. But a peace built on surrender to an imperialist dictator would be no peace at all. The Ukrainian people must continue to fight, and all the nations of the world that believe in freedom, democracy and national self-determination must continue to help to defend them. Donald Trump was wrong – Ukraine still holds some cards Editorial: All the nations of the world that believe in freedom, democracy and national self-determination must continue to stand by the Ukrainian people 8 June 2025 06:00 Ukrainian attack damaged 10% of Russia's strategic bombers, Germany says Ukraine's audacious drone attack last weekend likely damaged around 10 per cent of Russia's strategic bomber fleet and hit some of the aircraft as they were being prepared for strikes on Ukraine, a senior German military official has said. 'According to our assessment, more than a dozen aircraft were damaged, Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers as well as A-50 surveillance planes,' German Major General Christian Freuding said in a YouTube podcast, according to Reuters, which saw the clip ahead of its publication. The affected A-50s, which provide aerial situational awareness, were likely non-operational when they were hit, said the general, who coordinates Berlin's military aid to Kyiv and is in close touch with the Ukrainian defence ministry. 'We believe that they can no longer be used for spare parts. This is a loss, as only a handful of these aircraft exist,' he said. 'As for the long-range bomber fleet, 10 per cent of it has been damaged in the attack according to our assessment.' Washington estimates that Ukraine's attack hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes, destroying around 10 of them, two US officials told Reuters earlier this week. Andy Gregory8 June 2025 05:30 Analysis | As Putin ramps up his summer offensive in Ukraine, will he succeed? Our world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes: As the summer fighting season gets underway in the fourth year of Putin's full-scale invasion of its neighbour, Russia has clearly shifted its main effort to permanently destabilising Ukraine. Putin may have given up on regime change, but he wants to take all of the territories Russia has illegally annexed – Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as hanging onto Crimea. If he manages this, he may be able to convince European leaders that a peace along lines defined by the Kremlin is the least-bad outcome. Kyiv, meanwhile, has demonstrated that it is no longer on the back foot and that it is far from defeated. Indeed two years after its failed summer counter-offensive, Kyiv is growing in strength and confidence. Ukraine doesn't have the capacity to drive Russia out of its lands this year. But it is hanging on and by next year may find it has the upper hand as European aid begins to come through to replace the military support that the US has withdrawn. As Putin ramps up his summer offensive in Ukraine, will he succeed? Andy Gregory8 June 2025 05:00
