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Drone kills Bradley Townsend
A remote-controlled FPV drone strike killed Bradley Townsend, 33, in June near Lyman in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine while he was fighting for Russia against Ukraine.
“Townsend is said to have died following an attack by a remote-controlled FPV drone”
The BBC said Townsend’s death, on 10 June, was believed to be the first of a British citizen fighting for Russia in the conflict, and it placed his killing in Donetsk.
The Telegraph reported that Townsend was killed in June by a remote-controlled first-person-view drone near Lyman, a city in Donetsk, after leaving Britain in April to join Vladimir Putin’s army.
Townsend had appeared in a video on 4 April describing himself as a “normal working-class lad from Yorkshire,” and the BBC said he told his family he was going to Romania before leaving home in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office confirmed it was aware of reports a British national had died in Ukraine and said it was in contact with his family as Andy Burnham arrived in Kyiv for his first foreign trip as UK prime minister.
Voices condemn and mourn
Aiden Minnis, a fellow Briton fighting in Putin’s forces, said Townsend had “sacrificed his life for our cause,” and the BBC said Minnis announced Townsend’s death using the Yorkshireman’s call sign of Badger.
The Telegraph quoted Minnis describing Townsend as “Bradley Spencer Townsend, call sign ‘Badger’, our beloved comrade-in-arms went into the storm and fell on the battlefield near Liman [sic].”
Townsend had previously said in a video shared online on 4 April, “I came with the idea that I probably won’t be able to go home. I’d definitely get persecuted if I went back,” and the BBC included his later line, “I’m not here for a suicide mission, but I understand that’s what can happen.”
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative MP for Tonbridge, told LBC that joining the Russian army is “an unbelievably stupid thing to do,” while also saying he was “very sorry for him and his family.”
The BBC also reported that the FCDO advised against all travel to Russia and said its ability to provide consular support in these circumstances is severely limited, as it warned that travelling to Ukraine to fight or assist others may amount to offences under UK legislation.
UK policy and wider risks
The BBC said the government agreed to hand over blueprints for British-made components for the Scalp missile, a French version of the UK’s Storm Shadow cruise missile, allowing Ukraine to produce the weapon domestically.
“The government has agreed to hand over blueprints for British-made components for the Scalp missile”
It also said Burnham’s visit to Kyiv coincided with the 35th anniversary of the country’s independence from the Soviet Union, linking the Townsend death to a broader moment in UK-Ukrainian engagement.
The Yorkshire Post said the news broke as Prime Minister Andy Burnham arrived in Kyiv and reported that he announced the UK would help Ukraine produce long-range Scalp missiles by sharing blueprints for its British components with Kyiv.
The BBC added that Townsend was believed to be the first British national fighting for Russia since Putin ordered the full scale invasion in February 2022, and it said a number of British nationals have been killed during the war while fighting for Ukraine.
The FCDO’s guidance, as quoted by the BBC, warned that “You could be prosecuted on your return to the UK,” and it said its foreign travel advice for Ukraine warns travelling to Ukraine to fight or assist others engaged in the war may amount to offences under UK legislation.