Ayrton Redfearn, 23, Killed In Action In Ukraine’s Donetsk Region

Ayrton Redfearn, a 23-year-old British man, was killed in action in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on 9 May after joining a specialist unit supporting the Ukrainian army in 2025.

“- Published A British man has been killed in action in Ukraine”

BBC

His mother, Natasha, told the BBC that she had “lived in fear of the police coming to my door with bad news,” and she said “This fear became reality on the evening of 11 May.”

BBC

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was “supporting the family of a British national who has died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities.”

BBC reporting said Redfearn was from south Devon, had been a former pupil at Churston Ferrers Grammar School, and joined Torquay Air Cadets at the age of 12 before enlisting in the RAF at 17.

Natasha described her son as “deeply heartbroken to share the news that my beautiful, strong and incredibly brave son was killed,” and she said she was “trying to have just 1% of the strength, bravery and courage of Ayrton.”

The BBC also quoted Dr Ben King, Redfearn’s tutor for five years, saying he had been “highly intelligent” and “a lovely lad” who “everyone admired.”

Devon Live

In a separate account, the Independent reported Natasha’s statement that “This fear became reality on the evening of 11 May and the world of myself, and Ayrton’s 10-year-old brother, then fell apart.”

The Independent added that the FCDO warns British nationals fighting in Ukraine face a “high risk of maltreatment,” and it said “British nationals fighting in Ukraine have been killed or captured.”

A profile in Slate.fr, drawing on a profile in The Economist, described Robert Brovdi—nicknamed Madyar—as a 50-year-old former grain trader who became a leader of Ukraine’s drone units and took charge of Ukraine’s unmanned systems forces in June 2025.

“Reading time: 3 minutes — Spotted in The Economist”

Slate.fr

Slate.fr said Brovdi’s doctrine is to “targeting not armored vehicles but Russian soldiers themselves,” and it claimed that by December 2025 “Russia would have lost more soldiers to Ukrainian drones than it recruited.”

The article also stated that “By December, nearly 400 Russian fighters were killed every day,” and it said Brovdi’s drone forces and operators account for only 2% of the Ukrainian army’s contingent while accounting for more than a third of enemy losses.

Slate.fr further quoted Brovdi’s view that “The Russian army is a cow to be milked to exhaustion,” and it said he told the reader, “Let's see first if we can keep this pace for another year.”