Wagner Group-affiliated media sources have reported that the body of missing UK aid volunteer Christopher Parry was recovered from Soledar. Earlier this week, Parry and another UK volunteer, Andrew Bagshaw, were reported missing after heading to the besieged city. The two had been working as evacuation drivers for civilians who remained at the frontlines.
Christopher Parry (28) and Andrew Bagshaw (48) are missing in Soledar. They are volunteers from the UK and New Zealand who evacuate civilians from the front lines. They went missing during an evacuation on Jan. 6. I spoke to them three days earlier in Bakhmut. pic.twitter.com/Ksobg9yZKp
— Arnaud De Decker (@arnauddedecker) January 10, 2023
Grey Zone Media, the semi-official outlet of Wagner Group, posted to its Telegram channel stating that “Yevgeny Prigozhin also said that during the battles for Soledar, at least one of two British citizens were killed in battles with the Wagner Group – they were Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry,” adding “The body of one of them was found, where documents were found on him for both volunteers who fought on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in particular, through registration by volunteers.”
????????? ????????? ?????????? ?? ?????????????? (Andrew Bagshaw ? Christopher Parry) ? ???? ?????? ?? ??? ????????? ? ??? ?????? https://t.co/NbhqTRuR34 https://t.co/atGGGv7Flm #??????? pic.twitter.com/BGKyYJ83VD
— Necro Mancer (@666_mancer) January 11, 2023
Along with the post were photos of Parry’s passport and volunteer card, as well as the passport of Baghshaw.
Grey Zone later posted that the body was identified as Parry’s. The post went on to claim that “at the time of discovery, Perry himself was not only in personal armor protection, like volunteers or journalists, but also in equipment with weapons and ammunition, allowing him to conduct combat actions, which excludes it from a number of conventional protections,” which insinuated that Parry was acting as a combatant.
