James Wilton, 18, from Huddersfield, Britain, died in a Russian drone strike during his first combat mission in Ukraine, The Sun reports.
A group of international fighters spotted three Russian unmanned aerial vehicles while crossing an open field to deliver supplies to the front line on 23 July 2023.
“Once the drone was on him, James never stood a chance,” said Jason, a US volunteer who witnessed the attack. “It was James’s first and last mission.”
Wilton was just 30 meters from safety when a drone struck him. The teenager carried a 60kg pack and moved in pairs with other fighters when Russian forces detected them.
“We had to cross an open field with no trees, no cover, nothing, to resupply other soldiers,” Jason told The Sun. “I was team leader and there were six of us traversing in groups of two, 20m apart. Myself and James were the last two.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Wilton on Piers Morgan Uncensored. “Your boy gave his life, the most precious thing he had,” Zelensky says. “He definitely is in our hearts, a heroic person.”
The Foreign Office confirms it “provided consular assistance to the family of a British man who died in Ukraine.”
Wilton arrived in Ukraine four months before his death. He completed a two-year course in animal welfare and land care. Ukrainian instructors gave him basic weapons training before he joined Ukraine’s Second International Legion.
“I’ll never get over this. I didn’t want him to go but his heart was set on it. He wanted to help Ukraine,” his father Graham Wilton tells The Sun. Graham drove his son to Manchester Airport and later traveled to Ukraine for the cremation.
At least 16 Britons have died in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. Recent casualties include Alexander Garms-Rizzi, 23, a former British Army sniper killed by a drone while protecting fellow soldiers, and Callum Tindal-Draper, 22, who died defending an observation point.
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