Former British soldier fighting in Ukraine found dead with hands tied

A former British army soldier was found dead in a body of water in Ukraine with his hands tied behind his back after he went to the country to fight alongside Ukrainian forces, it has emerged.

Jordan Chadwick, who served in the Scots Guards from 2011 to 2015, travelled to Ukraine to fight in October last year. Eight months later, on 26 June, Lancashire police told his mother, Brenda, that her son, known as Joe, had been killed. British government officials later confirmed his death.

The Ukrainian international army repatriated the 31-year-old on 7 August. An inquest will be held in February to determine the cause of his death.

Brenda Chadwick told the BBC: “His passion to support freedom and assist others with his skills led him to leave the UK and travel to the Ukraine in early October 2022.

“Although we are extremely proud of his unwavering courage and resilience, his death has been devastating. No words can be found to describe the loss of such a short life. A son, brother, grandson, nephew and uncle, who was loved immensely.”

He is the latest British national to be be killed fighting in Ukraine. The number is now in double figures.

Samuel Newey, a 22-year-old from Solihull, was confirmed as killed while fighting in east Ukraine in August. He had been serving as a volunteer fighter for more than a year.

Other Britons killed in Ukraine include Simon Lingard, 38, from Blackburn, and Jordan Gatley, who died fighting Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk in June.

Scott Sibley, 36, died in late April in Mykolaiv after a drone dropped mortars on his regiment, and Craig Mackintosh, from Norfolk, was killed while volunteering as a medic in Ukraine in August.

Paul Urey, a British aid worker, died last July while being detained by Russian-backed separatists.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are providing assistance to the family of a British man who died in Ukraine and are in contact with the local authorities.”