Paul Urey, British aid worker held by pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine, has died in captivity, charity says
A British aid worker detained by pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine has died in captivity, a separatist official and a U.K. charity involved with his case said Friday. The Presidium Network aid charity said Paul Urey's family had been notified of his death by British officials.
The U.K. Foreign Office has not publicly confirmed the death but said it was "urgently seeking clarification from the Russian government."
Daria Morozova, the human rights ombudswoman for the Moscow-backed separatist leadership in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, said a British "mercenary," whom she named as Urey, died in captivity on Sunday. She said he had died of chronic illnesses and stress.
Urey, 45, was detained in April at a checkpoint near Zaporizhzhia, some 290 miles southeast of Kyiv, along with another British man, Dylan Healy. The two men had been operating on their own in the war zone, helping to evacuate civilians.
Presidium Network co-founder Dominik Byrne said Urey had diabetes and needed a regular supply of insulin.
"It's obvious that his welfare was not looked after," Byrne said. "The Russian authorities and the Donetsk People's Republic knew he had need of insulin but all the way through this the Red Cross has been denied welfare access to him and has never been able to verify his actual conditions in prison."
Byrne said "multiple agencies" including the British government and the Red Cross had tried in vain to secure Urey's release.
"We are formally calling for his captors to release his body and help us repatriate it back to the U.K. for his family," he said. "We really feel that is of ultimate importance and the least they can do at this stage."
Pro-Russian separatists have captured several foreign citizens they describe as mercenaries.
Among them are Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner who in June were sentenced to death by separatist authorities in the stronghold of Donetsk.
Two Americans who are also being held, Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, have not yet been charged.
"They are really using these personnel as political pawns in this conflict - which is disgraceful" Byrne told Reuters.