Brit hero, 22, killed by Russian mortar strike in Ukraine after fighting alongside ‘Dark Angel’ squad of volunteers, according to The Sun.
A brave Brit joined a volunteer squad of UK fighters on the frontline in Ukraine has been killed after the Russian mortar strike. Sam Newey, a 22-year-old student, was locked in a hard-frontline fight with Russian forces in The East Ukraine when he was mortally wounded on Wednesday.
Sources close to his foreign fighters unit – named “The Dark Angels” – said the bloody battles became so intense that soldiers were fighting hand-to-hand before Sam was firebombed.
Sam had been fighting for eight months in one of the most dangerous parts of the Ukraine frontline. His elder brother Dan, also from Solihull, Birmingham, had been battling alongside him but he had recently come back to the UK.
Sam studied psychology course at the University of Birmingham and did not have any military experience before he made a decision to join the fight against Russian foces in Ukraine. He decided to become like his brother – to fight another man’s war and joined up with his old family friend Daniel Burke, who was the founder of the Dark Angels.
Sam’s brother Dan called him an “exceptional man and a good soldier” while expressing his honor. He wrote on his pages on social media:
“I cannot put into words how broken I feel. I also cannot emphasise how proud I am of my little brother. Not only are you my little brother, but you’re an exceptional man, a good soldier and one of the bravest people I ever had the privilege of knowing. Sam you gave your life for people you never knew and acted with courage, morality and honour. He’d just turned 21 when he decided to answer the call and travel to Ukraine to push back against Russian Imperialism. Thank you so much for being part of my life for these 22 years. I love you always brother.”
Sam’s father Paul, a 52-year-old engineer, told The Sun: “I knew Sam was taking a big risk fighting for what he believed in but it’s still a terrible shock and my feelings are still very strong.
“He was a brilliant, brave man who passionately supported Ukraine’s cause and just upped and went out there to do what he could to stop the Russians.His brother told me what had happened but I don’t have much detail except that he was blown up by a mortar while fighting in the east of the country. “I was told it was a very bloody battle and was hand-to-hand at times before the mortar landed. “I’m so proud of my son and will always know he died doing what he wanted to do. “But now we’ll be bringing him home for burial in the UK.”
This year in June the brave troop blasted a Russian position with a Javelin anti-tank missile on Ukraine’s front line. The daring group crept into neutral land in occupied Kherson region to launch the missile strike. Sam’s body cam footage had footage of the four-man team creeping up to a ridge line to fire the US-made guided weapon. The Sun’s Jerome Starkey met the volunteers at their bunker HQ in a frontline village damaged by bombing. The highest ranking volunteer in the foreign force team was a former US Marine sergeant called Chris. Among others there is a German-born bartender, British ex-con Mark Ayres, 49, and a US gun enthusiast, Justin, 29, who took part in Afghanistan war.
It comes weeks after a mysterious disappearance of Daniel Burke in Zaporizhzhia. Burke’s family fear he has also been killed. Meanwhile, ex-British soldier was killed in May. He came to Ukraine to help fight against Russian troops.
Julian Thorn, 36, died in a car accident after travelling from Northumberland to the war-torn country last year. And paramedic Jonathan Shenkin from Glasgow, “died as a hero in an act of bravery” in December, according to his family. At the beginning of the year, two bodies of another Brits killed while trying to help people evacuate from fierce battle in Ukraine were recovered. Chris Parry, 28, and Andrew Bagshaw, 47, were volunteers in Soledar, in the Donetsk region, when their vehicle was reportedly hit by a missile.
