Two British volunteers who went missing were killed in eastern Ukraine

Relatives of British volunteers Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Perry, who disappeared in Donbas in early January, confirmed on Tuesday that they were killed during an attempted humanitarian evacuation from the city of Soledar in Donetsk region.

This is stated in the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Britain.

Perry’s family said in a statement that he traveled to Ukraine back in March 2022, where he helped save more than 400 people and many abandoned pets.

“Words cannot express how much we will miss him, but he will forever remain in our hearts. We feel proud that he chose our family to be a part of it,” they said.

The statement of the relatives of the deceased Briton was signed with the words “Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes” (“Slava Ukrayini, heroyam slava”), transliterated in English letters.

They did not say exactly how they confirmed the deaths of Perry and Bagshaw, but last week Russian sources close to Wagner’s private military company circulated a photo of Perry’s body, described as a “volunteer.”

At the beginning of January, the police of the Donetsk region reported the disappearance of British citizens Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Perry. They disappeared on January 7 on the way from Kramatorsk to Soledar, where heavy fighting continues.

In the Soledar district of the Donetsk region, two citizens of Great Britain were killed – 28-year-old Chris Perry and 47-year-old Andrew Bagshaw. They went missing on January 7. Later it became known that the men were killed by a Russian projectile when they were trying to evacuate an elderly local woman.

Bagshaw’s family said in a statement that an artillery shell hit the volunteers’ car during a “humanitarian evacuation” attempt. Russian private military company “Wagner” claimed that its forces found the body of one of the Britons.

It is known that Bagshaw is a scientific researcher in the field of genetics, who came to Ukraine as a volunteer in April 2022 to deliver humanitarian aid. He was unmarried. The husband is survived by a brother, two sisters and seven nephews and nieces

“Andrew selflessly took great personal risk and saved countless lives; we love him and are very proud of what he did,” the Bagshaw family said.

Relatives added that they want the death of their loved one not to be in vain.

“We call on the civilized countries of the world to stop this immoral war and help Ukrainians rid their homeland of the aggressor,” the statement reads.

Originally from Cornwall, Perry worked as a running coach in Cheltenham. The man’s family said they were proud of his selfless determination to help people.

“We never thought we would say goodbye to Chris when he could have had such a full life ahead of him… In March, at the darkest time of the beginning of the Russian invasion, he found himself in Ukraine and helped those who needed it most, saving more than 400 lives and many abandoned animals,” the statement said.

Previously, he evacuated the residents of Severodonetsk, and then worked east of the Liman.

Three days before the man disappeared, he said, he constantly had to choose between slow travel on foot and fast travel by car.

In hot spots, Perry explained, you can get around on your own like some volunteers do, but then you’re very vulnerable and waste a lot of time. The car is a big target and highly visible to Russian drones, but it can be driven to a destination in minutes and back quickly. Perry called this selection a “lottery.”

“Hopefully, you can do it fast enough that the drones don’t notice you, and then you can just park your car in the building and hide,” the volunteer said.

The Russian authorities plan to create 20 correctional colonies on the captured Ukrainian territories. This was entrusted to the Federal Penal Service of Russia.

This is evidenced by the relevant order of the government of the aggressor state.

As stated in the order, the occupiers plan to build 12 correctional colonies in the east of Ukraine. There, seven will be built in the captured part of Luhansk region, three in the occupied part of Kherson region.

But two colonies and one colony-settlement will be built in the Zaporizhzhia region.

The Russians also want to build three medical correctional institutions and three correctional centers.

During the retreat from the Kherson region, the Russian military took Ukrainian prisoners to ten colonies on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Also, after the capture of Snigurivka, the Russians occupied the territory of the local colony. The occupiers took the convicts to Kherson, and stationed their military on the territory of the colony.

The occupiers took prisoners from the Kherson correctional colony and used it to accommodate personnel and equipment, setting up a base there.

The Russian invaders want to create 3 colonies in the occupied Kherson region. The Russian government issued the relevant order.

The Russian occupiers also want to create a so-called “treatment correctional facility” in the Kherson region.

Losses among civilians from February 24, 2022, when Russia started a war against Ukraine, to January 22, 2023, amounted to 18,483 civilians (a week earlier – 18,358), including 7,068 dead (7,031), the UN High Commission for Human Rights reported on the night of tuesday

“The cause of most of the recorded cases of death or injury of civilians was the use of explosive weapons with a large impact zone, in particular, shelling from heavy artillery and multiple rocket systems, as well as missile and airstrikes,” – emphasizes the document regarding UN data.

This applies, for example, to such settlements as Mariupol (Donetsk region), Izyum (Kharkiv region), Lysychansk, Popasna and Severodonetsk (Luhansk region), where, according to reports, numerous cases of civilian deaths or injuries have been recorded.

According to confirmed UN data, 2,800 men, 1,895 women, 223 boys and 180 girls died, while the gender of 35 children and 1,935 adults has not yet been determined.

Among the 11,415 wounded, there are 330 boys and 241 girls, as well as 267 children whose gender has not yet been determined.

Compared to January 15, five children were killed and 11 children were injured.

If previously the report of the UN High Commission on Human Rights on the number of casualties was published daily, and then only on working days, since July it has become weekly. In this summary, as in the previous one, data are given for months.

According to them, the number of dead in December – 190 – exceeded the figure in November – 164, which was the lowest since the beginning of the war, and in 22 days of the new year it was 132 people.

March remains the deadliest month for civilians, according to the UN, with at least 3,372 deaths. In April, according to the publication of the administration of the Supreme Commission for Human Rights, the number of civilian deaths due to the war decreased to 712, in May – to 476, in June – to 376 and in July – to 360. In the first five days of the war, from 24 to 359 people died on February 28, 307 in August, 330 in September, and 287 in October.

The number of injured in December also exceeded November’s figure of 612 compared to 530, and 372 since the start of the year. In October, the number of injured fell to 787 from 934 in September, when it was higher than August’s figure of 894 and slightly lower than previous months. : July – 1,100, June – 1,030, May – 1,021. In April and March, respectively, 1,257 and 2,416 people were injured.

According to the summary, 123 people were killed and another 353 were injured from large-area explosive weapons in January, while 9 people died and 19 were injured from mines and explosive objects – the consequences of war (6% of total losses).

According to the UN, 90% of the victims in January were in government-controlled territories.

The summary traditionally states that the increase in indicators before the previous summary should not be counted only for cases after January 15, since during this period the Office verified several cases for the previous days.

During the 11 months of full-scale war, Russia committed 477 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine. This is evidenced by the monitoring data of the Institute of Mass Information.

During January, 10 violations of freedom of speech committed by Russia were recorded in Ukraine:

• shooting and wounding of journalists;
• kidnapping;
• cyber crimes;
• turning off Ukrainian broadcasting in the occupied territories;
• closing of the newspaper due to lack of funding due to the war.

In December 2022, journalist “Suspilne Kherson” Anton Kolomiets died in a battle with Russian occupiers in the Bakhmut direction. He became the 43rd media person who died as a result of Russian aggression in Ukraine. Of them, 8 — while performing journalistic activities, 35 died as participants in hostilities or became victims of Russian shelling not while performing journalistic duties.

During the eleventh month of the full-scale war, two journalists – from Japan and Germany – were injured: on December 31, during a Russian missile attack on Kyiv, a journalist from the Japanese publication Asahi Shimbun, Wataru Sekita, was wounded, on January 2, a reporter from the German publication Bild, Bjorn Stritzel, received a shrapnel wound as a result of Russian shelling of the city of Druzhkivka.

Two Ukrainian and one foreign film crew came under Russian shelling in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In January, it became known about the kidnapping of 69-year-old Anatoly Garagatoy, a local video blogger from the Savin community in Kharkiv Oblast, who was detained back in May 2022. The Russian occupiers held him captive for more than three months, and he was released on September 4.

Cybercrimes include a cyberattack on Ukrinform. As reported by the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, the website of the information agency could be attacked by hackers from the Sandworm group, which is connected to the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

In connection with the complaints of bots, the material of the “Poltava Wave” publication about a military man who adjusts Ukrainian artillery was blocked on Facebook. The editor-in-chief of the publication Vitaliy Ulybin believes that bots complained en masse.

In December, nine crimes against freedom of speech were recorded in Ukraine.