A member of the British military has been killed in Ukraine as a result of a “tragic accident” during a weapons test, the British Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.
“It is with deep regret that we must announce that a member of the UK armed forces died in Ukraine this morning, Tuesday 9 December,” a Defense Ministry spokesman said, according to The Guardian.
“He was injured in a tragic accident whilst observing Ukrainian forces test a new defensive capability, away from the frontlines,” the spokesperson added.
Since the early days of the Russian invasion, there have been reports of British military advisors being in Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers on Western-provided weapons, an unofficial presence that’s rarely acknowledged by British officials.
The Discord leaks revealed that, as of March 2023, the UK has 50 special operations forces in Ukraine, the biggest NATO contingent in the country at the time.
A German military leak in 2024 revealed that the UK also has troops “on the ground” in Ukraine to help Ukrainian forces fire British-provided Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 155 miles and have been used in strikes on Russian territory.
The news of the death of a British soldier in Ukraine comes as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer continues to push the idea of deploying troops to a post-war Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal, an idea that’s been repeatedly rejected by Moscow.
