‘Normal Yorkshire lad’ believed to be first Brit to die fighting for Russia in Ukraine
A self-described ‘normal Yorkshire lad’ is believed to be the first British citizen to die fighting for Russia in Ukraine, as his heartbroken mum says she thought he was ‘joking’ when he told her where he’d gone.
Bradley Townsend, 33, left his home in Barnsley in April this year after telling friends and family he was going on holiday to Romania.
However, the fisherman, who had no military experience or links to Russia, instead flew out to Moscow, where he met up with other British pro-Russian fighters, LBC reports.
Townsend then signed a contract saying he was willing to fight for Russia on the frontline in Ukraine.
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But just weeks later on 10 June, Townsend was reportedly killed by a suicide drone near Lyman in the Donetsk region.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, his mum Maureen said she had no idea of her son’s plans when he left the country.
She said: “He was going to go travelling for a year, and I was glad about that because he had two failed relationships. That was sad, they were lovely girls, but it just didn't work out, and he wanted to do something different and he said ‘I'm going to go travelling’.”
Townsend told his loved ones that he was headed to Romania and shared photos of his travels online, but he later came clean to Maureen about where he really was.
“The next thing he had phoned me up and told me he is in Russia,” the NHS worker continued.
“I said, ‘what are you doing there?’ And then it all came out and I asked him, ‘you're joking?’ I thought he was joking with me.”
In posts on social media, Townsend said that he had gone to Russia to 'repay the favour' after miners in Donbas had donated their wages to Yorkshire miners during the strikes in the 1980s.
In a clip shared online, Townsend chillingly admitted that his decison to sign up could be a ‘suicide mission’.
He said: “I came with the idea that I probably wouldn't be able to go home. I'd definitely get persecuted if I went back.
“I'm not here for a suicide mission, but I understand that's what can happen. This was my own decision, I wasn't pushed into anything.”
Speaking to LBC, former security minister Tom Tugendhat said that he was ‘very sorry for him and his family’ but said that Brits signing up to fight with the Russian army was an ‘unbelievably stupid’ thing to do.
He continued: "It's extremely misguided. And, you know, it's no question about it; it's criminal. Because you're engaging in an army that is committing the most barbarous war crimes that the world has seen in decades."
Maureen and Townsend’s siblings are now attempting to have his body repatriated to the UK, but claim that Russian officials aren’t co-operating with the UK Government.
In a statement to Daily Mail, the Foreign Office said: “We are aware of reports that a British national has died in Ukraine and are in contact with his family.”
Claire Reid