"Samuel Newey, 22, a student from Birmingham with no military experience, was a member of a foreign volunteer squad known as the Dark Angels fighting for the Kiev regime. His death on Wednesday was confirmed by his brother Dan," the publication said.
According to the deceased's brother, who also saw action in Ukraine, Newey "gave his life for people he never knew."
The Dark Angels squad was founded by a former British paratrooper Daniel Burke. According to media reports, the 36-year-old from Manchester served in the airborne forces, including in Afghanistan. He later went to Syria to fight alongside Kurdish fighters against Daesh*. On his return, Burke was accused of helping the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) units plan attacks against Turkiye. As a result, he was detained for seven months.
Last year, Burke came to Ukraine and organized his own Dark Angels unit. However, he eventually moved away from direct combat and began helping with evacuations from the front line. He went missing in mid-August.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, amid the disruption of mobilization plans and in order to conceal significant losses within the Ukrainian army, Kiev has intensified the recruitment of mercenaries. They are reportedly recruited from the United States and Canada, including with the assistance of the CIA, as well as from Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, including from the areas in Syria under American control.
In the course of the special military operation, over 4,800 mercenaries have been neutralized and the same number fled Ukraine, the military ministry added.
*Daesh (ISIS/IS/ISIL) is an Islamist terrorist group that is outlawed in Russia and many other countries.