A veteran of the British army has been killed and a second Briton has disappeared after being believed to have traveled to Ukraine to fight Russian forces.
Scott Sibley, 36, is the first British citizen to be confirmed dead in the war.
A friend described him as the bravest man he knew. Another said he had a “bad sense of humor.”
It is not clear which day he was killed, but it is believed that it was a few days ago in southern or eastern Ukraine.
It has not been confirmed why they were in Ukraine. A spokesman for the International Legion, which includes foreign fighters in the country, declined to comment.
Sky News chose not to name the missing man. The families of the two British citizens were informed about the situation and received support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Community and Development (FCDO) did not provide any details about what men did in Ukraine.
An FCDO spokesman said: “We can confirm that a British citizen was killed in Ukraine and is supporting his family.”
Mr. Sibley served in the Royal Logistics Corps.
The former paid tribute to him on its official Facebook page after the news of his death, saying he had “shown the spirit of a commando to the end”.
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A GoFundMe page set up to cover funeral expenses says Mr Sibley is a father.
His friend Craig, who created the page, wrote: “To me he was a friend like no other and the bravest man I had the pleasure of knowing was as good as a brother to me.
“His life may have been interrupted, but he is living life to the fullest and doing things the way his brothers did, to the end.
A commentator on the site, Damon Tyler, said: “Brothers, I knew you from elementary school and then, a great man and a really healthy boy, he had a bad sense of fun and always with a smile.”
Speaking about the second Briton, the FCDO spokesman said: “We know of a British citizen who went missing in Ukraine and we support their family. We are urgently looking for additional information. “
Concerns have been expressed about the safety of two other British citizens in Ukraine.
The UK-based Presidium Network, a non-profit organization, says two civilian men volunteering for humanitarian aid were captured by Russian forces on Monday at a checkpoint in the southeast.
Understandably, the Foreign Office is urgently seeking more information following reports of the detention of British citizens.
Key developments:
- Ukraine says Russia’s offensive in the east is gaining momentum
- Biden will ask Congress for an additional $ 33 billion to help Ukraine
- Russia uses trained dolphins to protect the Black Sea naval base – reports
- The NATO chief says Finland and Sweden could join soon enough
Image: The Russian invasion of Ukraine so far
Ukraine has said thousands of foreigners have decided to head to Ukraine to join the fight against Vladimir Putin’s forces, including British veterans.
At the start of the war, the Ukrainian government called on volunteers from around the world to come and help support its armed forces as they took over the Russian invasion.
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The advice of the UK government is that people should not travel to Ukraine to fight, but they can support Ukraine in many other ways.
However, a number of people decided to go and are in the country to help Ukraine’s military defense.
This comes more than a week after two British fighters – Sean Piner and Aidan Aslin – were captured by Moscow forces.
Image: Separate Sean Piner (left) and Aiden Aslin captured by Russian forces earlier this month
The two, who were detained in Ukraine, appeared on Russian state television and demanded to be replaced by Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician close to Putin.
But asked by Sky News’s Kay Burley about the potential for such an exchange, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said: “We are actually going through a process of sanctioning people close to the Putin regime.
“We will not look for ways to help Russia, we are really trying to ensure that the Putin regime fails in this heinous invasion, and we will continue to do everything we can to support the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian president and government to defeat Putin. “
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