British soldier killed operating drones on Ukraine front line
Ben Leo Burgess, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, volunteered to join the Ukrainian fight against Russia in 2022 and saw action in some of the most brutal battles of the war.
The 33-year-old, who went by the call sign 'Budgie', served at the front for three years until he was killed in the village of Andriivka in Ukraine's Sumy region on June 20, according to local reports.
Mr Burgess, from the 78th Air Assault Regiment, was first deployed to the Zaporizhzhia region in south-east Ukraine with the artillery, before moving on to medical evacuations further east in Donetsk. He later specialised in flying first-person-view drones.
His friend and fellow British volunteer, identified only by the call sign 'Azrael', told the Kyiv Post: 'He was among the best pilots we had. He came to Ukraine because he truly believed in its freedom. And he died fighting for that.'
'He fought well, fought bravely,' he added. 'We were the last two foreign fighters in our regiment.'
'He was my family here. I've lost many friends in this war – he's my biggest loss.'
'Thank you for protecting'
A funeral was held for Mr Burgess in Kyiv on Monday, which was attended by 40 friends, family and soldiers from his regiment.
The Ukrainian national anthem was played and both the Ukrainian and British flags were draped over his coffin.
Mourners then went to the city's Maidan Square to plant a flag for him at a memorial for fallen soldiers. Handwritten messages on the flag read: 'Thank you for protecting', 'Love you brother, until we meet again', and 'Forever in my mind, heart, and soul'.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: 'We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Ukraine and are in contact with the local authorities.'
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