Jordan Gatley left the British army in March “to continue his career as a soldier in other areas” and was helping Ukrainian troops defend their country against Russia, Dean’s father wrote in a statement posted on Facebook on Saturday. “Yesterday [10/06/22] we received the devastating news that our son, Jordan, was shot and killed in the city of Severodonetsk, Ukraine σε He loved his job and we are so proud of him. He was truly a hero and will be in our hearts forever. ” said the statement. Gatley died in the battle for the key strategic city in the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine, where fighting has been intense in recent days. He is believed to be the second Briton killed during the war in Ukraine. In April, tributes were paid to Scott Sibley, a British military veteran believed to have died fighting Russian troops. The Gatley family statement said: “We have had many messages from his team out there telling us about his wealth of knowledge, his skills as a soldier and his love of his job. “His team says that everyone loved him, as we did, and he made a huge difference in the lives of many people, not only by enlisting, but also by training Ukrainian forces.” A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We support the family of a British man who died in Ukraine.” Kyiv has acknowledged in recent weeks that it has suffered heavy casualties in Russia’s offensive in the east. Thousands of foreigners are believed to have entered Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the establishment of an international legion of volunteers from abroad in the early days of the Russian invasion. A significant number are believed to be UK citizens, despite the fact that the British Armed Forces are urging the British not to go to the country. Subscribe to the First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7 p.m. BST Two Britons and a Moroccan national arrested during a battle with the Ukrainian army in Mariupol have been sentenced to death by pro-Russian officials in what has been described as a “disgusting demonstration trial of the Soviet era”. The Russian state media have portrayed them as mercenaries and the court has ruled that they were the same despite the fact that all three men served in the Ukrainian Marines and thus should be protected by the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war. Dennis Pushilin, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, where the three foreigners were tried, said on Sunday that no mercy should be shown. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truce called the decision a “fraud” with “absolutely no legitimacy”. In a separate case, Russia said former Royal Marine Ben Grant had assisted in the assassination of a Chechen brigade commander in Ukraine after footage emerged of a British national fighting in the country. Grant, who has not been arrested, is the son of Conservative MP Ellen Grant. He had previously told British media that he was part of a unit of 15 British and American volunteers preparing for an attack on Russian targets in the Kharkiv region.
