Young volunteer soldier from Cornwall killed in action in Ukraine

Tributes have been paid to a young Cornishman who has been killed in action fighting for Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

The mother of Callum Tindal-Draper, 22, said he was killed while defending an observation point on the frontline in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday this week, November 5.

Caroline Tindal said her son Callum had been in Ukraine since June after travelling to the war-torn country to volunteer with the 4th International Legion, which is fighting alongside Ukrainian troops against the Russian. He turned 22 in September and she visited him out there.

In a Facebook post on their community page for Gunnislake, near Plymouth, Caroline Tindal said he died ‘following your heart, soul and morals’.

The post read: “In loving memory of our son Callum who was killed in action on 5th November while defending an observation point in Ukraine. He fought till he could no longer hold them off any more and his platoon are calling him a “Hero” and “As brave as they come”.

She added that 22 ‘is a young age’. “But you lived and died following your heart, soul and morals. May you rest in peace and help watch over those who have passed,” she said.

Callum’s father Steven Draper told the Steven Draper told the BBC the family were proud of their ‘brave’ son, and they had ‘begged and begged’ him not to go to Ukraine and sign up with to fight the Russians, but he told them he had to.

Callum had previously worked at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth and as a carer in the community. His mother told the BBC his death had left ‘this hole’.

“When we found out he’d died, there was just this hole which I can’t describe and it’s always going to be there,” she said. “But to know that they are saying he inspired them and they called him their little brother because he was the youngest one out there.”