UK mercenary who fought in Ukraine commits suicide upon return home
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It is reported that Gregg was found dead hanged in his home upon his return from the Ukrainian battlefront and a day after his 25th birthday.
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Ukrainian troops board a boat on the shore of Dnieper River near Kherson on Sunday Oct. 15, 2023. (AP)
According to The Telegraph, the UK mercenary, Harry Gregg, whom the former Prime Minister in 2022 sweet talked into fighting alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces, committed suicide upon his return home - and a day after his birthday.
It is reported that Gregg was found dead hanged in his home.
Gregg, who had just turned 25, joined the Ukrainian forces after former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss claimed to "absolutely" support anyone going to Ukraine to fight "for democracy" in 2022.
His family relayed to the newspaper that despite having no formal military training except for training as an army cadet, he still went.
When he arrived in Ukraine, the training camp he was in was bombed, and even though he was not harmed, his companion was seriously injured and he later witnessed another companion die.
In February 2022, when the war in Ukraine first started, Truss told BBC it was up to people to join the Ukrainian battlefield but argued it was a battle "for democracy" as she claimed Ukrainians were fighting for freedom, "not just for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe."
Yet five months later, she backtracked and told BBC ahead of the elections for prime minister at the time, "We are doing all we can to support Ukraine. We've led the international coalition on sending weapons. We're putting the sanctions in place, but I do not support the direct involvement of UK troops."
Read next: Western special forces in Ukraine openly exist, just unofficially
In May of last year, it was discovered that the UK was using job search outlets to recruit mercenaries from North Africa and the Middle East (MENA) to take part in Ukraine's counteroffensive, under the guise of "military maintenance technician," per a job advert published on Adzuna.
The job network platform operates in 20 countries and has monthly visitor traffic of at least 10 million work seekers and employers.
"We invite citizens from the Middle East and North Africa to participate in a voluntary program to assist Ukraine on a competitive basis… Military specialists with good health and psychological stability are required to participate in the Ukrainian counteroffensive," the job ad said.
More recently, leaked information from Russia claims the presence of British soldiers in Ukraine, assisting Kiev's forces by firing long-range Storm Shadow missiles.
According to the Kremlin, this information indicates that the West is directly involved in the war. British defense officials have, on their part, expressed outrage over the leak.
Last week, Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and the Rossiya Segodnya media group, broadcasted a leaked conversation between four German military officers. They were discussing a potential attack on the Crimean Bridge using long-range Taurus missiles, a weapon that the German Parliament previously voted not to supply to Kiev. Interestingly, the way the plan was being discussed insinuated that it had already been agreed upon.
The leak further detailed how British forces collaborated with Ukraine on deploying Storm Shadow missiles against targets up to 150 miles behind Russian lines.
