Bradley Townsend, a 33-year-old British citizen, is believed to have become the first known Briton to die fighting on the side of Russia against Ukraine when he was hit by an FPV drone in the Donetsk region in June.
This is reported by the BBC and the regional British media Yorkshire Post.
The UK Foreign Office has confirmed that it is aware of the death of a British citizen in Ukraine and is in contact with his family.
Townsend (originally from Barnsley in South Yorkshire) left Britain earlier this year, telling his family he was going to Romania.
In April, Townsend appeared in a video posted by a Russian recruitment account. In the video, he described himself as “a regular working-class guy from Yorkshire” and talked about his decision to fight for Russia.
"I came with the thought that I probably wouldnʼt be able to return home, and if I did, I would definitely be persecuted," he said.
Townsend added that he does not view his participation in the war as a suicide mission, but understands that he could die.
The Briton also said that he became interested in pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine back in 2014. According to him, he knew little about geopolitics at the time, but he heard about the separatists in Donbas and thought: "If they want to secede, why not let them."
In the same video, Townsend was accompanied by two other Britons, Ben Stimson and Aiden Minnis. According to the BBC, they became the first British citizens to go fight for Russia after the full-scale invasion began.
Stimson, from Oldham, has previously been convicted in the UK — in 2015 he received a prison sentence after travelling to eastern Ukraine and joining pro-Russian separatists.
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