Two British men detained by Kremlin forces in eastern Ukraine under separatist control have been charged with “mercenary activities,” according to Russian state media.
Dylan Healy, 22, and Andrew Hill, 35, were reportedly captured in April.
Healy, of Cambridgeshire, was in Ukraine as a cooperator of the British non-profit organization Presidium Network when he was arrested at a checkpoint south of the town of Zaporizhzhia.
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He was taken alongside another Briton, Paul Urey, 45, who has been described as a family man with children.
Mr Hill, a military volunteer, was filmed with a bandaged left arm and a makeshift suit on his head in images aired on Russian television in April.
According to the TASS news agency, Healy and Hill have refused to cooperate after being charged, officials in the Moscow-backed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) said.
A DPR source told TASS: “Criminal cases have been initiated and charges have been filed for (mercenaryism) against British citizens Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill, currently detained in the DPR.
“Investigation operations are underway as investigators look for evidence of the crimes, committed by the British, because they do not want to testify and refuse to cooperate in their criminal cases.”
Image: Paul Urey
A video aired on Russian television in April showed an English-speaking man giving his name as Andrew Hill of Plymouth.
According to a pro-Kremlin website, Healy and Hill will face the same mercenary charges as British military volunteers Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner.
Mr Aslin, 28, of Newark in Nottinghamshire, and Mr Pinner, 48, of Bedfordshire, were sentenced to death in a DPR court in June.
Image: Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin in Ukraine Image: Aiden Aslin (L) and Shaun Pinner in the photo during sentencing
But on Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) intervened in its cases and warned Moscow that it had to ensure that the death penalty was not executed.
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Mr. Aslin and Mr. Pinner have been living in Ukraine since 2018 and argue that they were legitimately serving with the country’s army, meaning they should be entitled to the protection of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.
Former British Army spokesman Scott Sibley, 36, who is believed to have traveled to Ukraine to fight Russian forces, became the first confirmed British national to die in the conflict.