Two British volunteers from aid organizations have disappeared near Soledar in the Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine, where heavy fighting is taking place, the Ukrainian police said on Monday on Facebook. Contact with the British was lost when they were traveling from Kramatorsk to Soledar.
“On January 7, around 5.15 pm, the police station in the Bakhmut area received a notification about the disappearance of two volunteers – British citizens aged 28 and 48,” the Ukrainian police said.
Ukrainian soldiers in BakhmutMYKOLA TYMCHENKO/PAP/EPA
“Earlier, on January 6 at 8 a.m., Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Perry left Kramatorsk for Soledar and contact with them broke off,” the statement said. It added that a criminal case had been initiated regarding the disappearance of people. The police appealed for reporting information about the British.
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Russian troops storm Soledar and nearby Bakhmut as part of an operation to capture the entire Donetsk Oblast in the east Ukraine. Representatives of the Ukrainian army have said in recent days that Soledar is heavily shelled and stormed, but remains under the control of Ukrainian forces.
Main photo source: MYKOLA TYMCHENKO/PAP/EPA