A Yorkshireman becomes the first Briton known to have died fighting for Russia in Ukraine

Bradley Townsend, a 33-year-old British citizen from South Yorkshire, was killed near the town of Lyman in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, according to The Yorkshire Post, BBC News, and The Guardian.

Townsend had been fighting for Russia in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine when he was killed by a remote-controlled drone back on June 10. British media reported that he was the first British citizen killed while fighting for Russia.

The Yorkshire Post said Townsend left home in early 2026, telling his family he was headed to Romania. In early April, according to a report by the BBC’s Russian Service, he appeared in a video posted by one of Russia’s pro-war Telegram channels alongside two other Englishmen, Ben Stimson and Aiden Minnis, both of whom had previously been granted Russian citizenship for fighting on Russia’s side. In the video, Townsend described himself as “a normal working-class lad from Yorkshire.” “I came with the idea that I probably won’t be able to go home, definitely get persecuted if I went back,” he said.

Townsend said he had decided to fight for Moscow because he wanted to repay Russia for the support Donbas miners gave to striking Yorkshire miners in the 1980s.

A former friend of Townsend’s said he had struggled with mental health problems and addiction. He described Townsend as “a normal guy,” but said other people had exploited his “vulnerabilities” to “recruit him into their weird schemes.” Townsend himself said going to fight had been his own decision, one that no one had forced him to make.

Commenting on reports of Townsend’s death, Britain’s Foreign Office said that traveling to Ukraine to fight or assist other combatants could be considered a violation of British law. “You could be prosecuted on your return to the UK,” the Foreign Office added.

iStories, an independent Russian investigative outlet, estimates that mercenaries from at least 48 countries are fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Some come from countries that Russian authorities have designated “unfriendly,” including the United States (two) and several European countries, among them Latvia (four), France (two), and Italy (two).

British citizens have been killed in the war before, but all of them had been fighting on Ukraine’s side. Townsend is the second Yorkshireman killed in the war — in 2024, 18-year-old James Wilton was reported killed after volunteering to fight for Ukraine.