A British man fighting for the Ukrainian government has been killed in a Russian mortar strike, and is the ninth known British military casualty in the renewed war so far.
Sam Newey, a 22-year-old who travelled to Ukraine last year to join the ‘Dark Angels’ foreign volunteer group fighting against the Russian invasion and occupation was killed by a mortar blast, his brother announced on social media. The Times of London reports Newey went to Ukraine after his psychology degree and had no military experience, but trained as a combat medic.
He was killed on Wednesday by a Russian mortar strike. The Foreign Office said they were aware of the death of Sam Newey and said they were supporting his family. His brother Dan Newey — who is not a stranger to foreign military service — wrote of his loss that: “[Sam] just turned 21 when he decided to answer the call and travel to Ukraine to push back against Russian imperialism.
“Sam you gave your life for people you never knew and acted with courage, morality and honour. 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.”
The Dark Angels is a group of what are called international volunteers led by British Army Afghanistan war-veteran ex-paratrooper Daniel Burke and according to a report on Newey’s death has been involved in some of the most intense fighting of the war. A report on the unit from last year described how its fighters, which included Britons, a former U.S. Marine, a French citizen, and an “ex-convict” started out delivering aid but found themselves drawn into the conflict.
In one military operation described, the men of the Angels had crept to the frontline undetected and taken out a Russian tank using a U.S.-made Javelin anti-armour missile, before withdrawing to behind Ukrainian lines for beers to celebrate the strike. The attack was described as “probably the first British-led hit on Russian troops in this part of the world since the Crimean War in the 1850s”.
The death of Sam Newey is not the first time the Newey family has hit the headlines in the United Kingdom for involvement in foreign paramilitary groups. Sam’s father Paul Newey was arrested by counter-terrorism police in 2019 after Sam’s brother Dan travelled to Syria to join a Kurdish militia fighting the Islamic State.
The father Paul, Sam, and Dark Angels leader Burke were accused of aiding terrorism and Paul was specifically accused of funding terrorism because he’d lent his son £150, but the case eventually collapsed and all were found not guilty. Paul accused the security services of ruining his life with the allegations and said then “There was no crime committed because it’s not terrorism – because my son is not a terrorist.
“He was there fighting with the allied forces against Isis. He was doing the right thing – he has gone to put his life at risk for other people for no gain to himself.”
As reported by The Guardian when the case against the men failed, the Neweys’ lawyers argued the prosecution was a politically motivated bid by the British government to curry favour with Turkey, which strongly persecuted Kurdish militias, despite them not being outlawed in the UK.
When the Ukraine War restarted last year, there was initially confusion over whether the British government condoned citizens volunteering or fighting as mercenaries or not. The Foreign Secretary immediately after Russia reluanched its invasion said she would support Britons going to fight against Russia, but the remarks were quickly rowed back.
The government subsequently told its armed forced that any soldier that went ‘AWOL’ to go to Ukraine could expect harsh punishment. This was later realised when British solider Fusilier Alexander Garms-Rizzi voluntarily returned from Ukraine where he’d fought for six months and was immediately arrested. His court-martial expelled him from the Army, but first ordered him to spend 12 months in a military prison for disobeying orders.