The Times - UK (2022-06-13)

the times | Monday June 13 2022 2GM 11

News

A former British soldier has been killed
fighting for Ukraine in one of the most
intense battles in the three months
since the Russian invasion.
Jordan Gatley, who served in the
British Army until March, was shot
dead in Severodonetsk, an eastern city
that has been the scene of fighting for
weeks.
Russia believes that the city, in the
Luhansk region, is vital to securing its
wider aim of controlling the whole of
Donbas, and had made gains before
being pushed back by Ukrainian forces
and those like Gatley who are fighting
with them.
As many as 20 British volunteers are
reported to have died fighting the
Russians, although the number cannot
be verified. The British government is
unsure of the number who have joined
up with Ukrainian units, or how many

British ex-soldier shot dead in Ukraine

have lost their lives. Gatley’s death was

announced by his family on Facebook

on Saturday. “We received the devastat-

ing news that our son, Jordan, has been

shot and killed in the city of Severodo-

netsk,” his father Dean said. “His team

say they all loved him, as did we, and he

made a massive difference to many

people’s lives, not only soldiering, but

also by training the Ukrainian forces.

“Jordan and his team were so proud

of the work they were doing and he

often told me that the missions they

were going on were dangerous but

necessary. He loved his job and we are

so proud of him. He truly was a hero

and will for ever be in our hearts.”

The family added that Gatley, who is

thought to be in his twenties, had made

the decision to fight for the Ukrainians

only “after careful consideration... he

went to Ukraine to help”. They said:

“Jordan left the British Army in March

this year to continue his career as a sol-

dier in other areas.” Dean Gatley is also

a veteran of the British armed forces

who served in the Commando Logistic

Support Squadron in Afghanistan.

Gatley is the second Briton known to

have been killed in action after another

volunteer, Scott Sibley, 36, died fighting

Russian troops in April.

Matthew Robinson, a former British

serviceman in Kyiv who has been train-

ing local and foreign volunteers, be-

lieves that the total number of Britons

killed during the fighting may never be

known. “Everyone knows the hypo-

thetical Russian casualty list, but there’s

no tally for the Ukrainian side,” he said.

“I would struggle to see how the British

embassy would know how many [Brit-

ons] are in this country.

“There is no clear line of communi-

cation so they won’t know how many

British servicemen will have died on

the front line. They will be in a mass

grave, or prisoners of war in Russia.

Perhaps there are secret dealings going

on to get these guys back or there’s

nothing happening. There’s a lot of

bloodshed and a lot of loss of life.”

On Thursday Aiden Aslin, 28, and

Shaun Pinner, 48, both British men

who fought in the Ukrainian armed

forces and were captured in Mariupol

in April, were convicted of being mer-

cenaries and sentenced to death by a

court in the Donetsk People’s Republic,

an unrecognised breakaway region of

eastern Ukraine that is loyal to Russia.

The judgment has been described as a

“sham” by lawyers and relatives.

Sergiy Gaiday, the governor of Lu-

hansk, said that the situation in Severo-

donetsk was “extremely difficult” after

the Russian army destroyed a second

bridge into the city. The invaders were

now bombarding the last one, he said.

The cities of Severodonetsk and

neighbouring Lysychansk, which are

separated by a river, have been targeted

for weeks as the last areas still under

Ukrainian control in the Luhansk re-

gion. “Most likely, today or tomorrow,

they will throw all reserves to capture

the city and also possibly in other direc-

tions to cut and fully control the road”

southwest to Bakhmut, Gaiday said.

He said the city’s Azot chemical plant

was being shelled and was on fire.

About 800 civilians have taken refuge

in the plant, according to the company

that owns it.

Death sentence for Britons is a travesty

of justice, leading article, page 29

War in Ukraine, pages 30-

Alistair Dawber Lv iv

Jordan Gatley’s

family announced

his death on

Facebook

Remains in

Amazon ‘not

linked to

journalist’

Stephen Gibbs
Latin America Correspondent

The search continues for a British jour-
nalist and his Brazilian colleague in the
Amazon after investigators expressed
scepticism that “human remains”,
found near where they were last seen,
were connected to their disappearance.
On Friday federal police announced
the discovery of material in the forest
that was “apparently human”, raising
expectations of a grim breakthrough in
the search for Dom Phillips and Bruno
Pereira, an expert in indigenous tribes,
who have been missing for over a week.
However, sources have since told
Reuters that the remains, found close to
the port of Atalaia do Norte, may have

no link to the investigation. Some re-
ports suggest they could have been
buried animal scraps from a butcher.
Phillips, 57, a freelance reporter, and
Pereira failed to return on June 5 from
an expedition near the border with Pe-
ru and Colombia. Yesterday Phillips’s
wife and mother-in-law said they had
given up hope he was alive.
The area is home to the world’s larg-
est number of uncontacted indigenous
people but is also an increasingly law-
less haven for gangs of poachers, drug
traffickers and loggers. Phillips was
writing a book entitled How to Save the
Amazon and was on a research trip.
In recent weeks Pereira had received
death threats from illegal fishermen in
the area.
Police in Atalaia do Norte have made
one arrest in connection with their
investigation, a fisherman named
Amarildo da Costa. He has been
charged with illegal possession of
restricted ammunition. Bloodstains in
his boat are also under examination.
Costa’s lawyers and family have said
that he fished legally on the river and
denied he had any role in the men’s
disappearance.

M

cEnroe

Mount?

Serena

Summit?

Maybe

even the Billie Jean

Bank? These are some

of the names for New

Yorkers to consider

before Wimbledon’s

Henman Hill is

reconstructed in

Brooklyn for this

year’s championships

(Jack Blackburn

writes).

The famous slope,

where punters watch

the biggest matches of

the tournament on a

giant screen, often

while picnicking, will

be in Brooklyn Bridge

Park from July 8 to 10

to coincide with the

tournament’s climax.

Guests can expect to

find strawberries and

cream, flower displays,

attendants with British

accents dressed up in

tournament uniforms

and a Sipsmith gin bar

providing cocktails.

The motivation

behind the move is

twofold, the organisers

say. It is about

bringing the

Wimbledon

experience to those

who have little chance

of attending the

championships but

also the hope that

such an idea can help

Wimbledon to

conquer the globe.

“Wimbledon is

more than just going

to watch a tennis

tournament,”

Alexandra Willis, the

communications and

marketing director for

the All England Lawn

Tennis Club, said. “To

know it is to love it,

but trying to translate

what the experience is

like for people who

have not had the

opportunity to come is

difficult and

something we’ve been

thinking about for

some time.”

The Brooklyn hill is

only the start of

Wimbledon’s global

aspirations and the

hope is that similar

hills will be set up

across the world, with

Beijing, Shanghai,

Mumbai and Salzburg

named as possible

locations. There are,

however, no plans to

do such a re-creation

at home in Britain.

There are open-air

screenings of the

tennis around the

country but these are

not affiliated with

Wimbledon, whose

focus for native fans is

to encourage them to

attend the real thing.

The reconstruction

coincides with the

25th anniversary of

Henman Hill, officially

known as the Aorangi

Terrace, which is

opposite Court No 1 at

the All England Club.

In 1997 fans with

ground tickets started

to gather on the bank

to watch the newly

installed big screen,

starting what has

become a tradition.

The hill was promptly

named after the

plucky British hopeful

Tim Henman and the

nickname stuck.

Murray’s injury scare,

page 60

Henman Hill gets

trip to New York

Dom Phillips was

on a research trip

in the Amazon

PHIL SHEPHARD-LEWIS FOR THE TIMES; SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

The slope where

tennis fans watch

Wimbledon will

be reconstructed

in Brooklyn

Bridge Park