Britain’s Foreign Office summoned the Russian ambassador, Andrei Kelin, on Friday afternoon to express “deep concern” over reports of Urey’s death.
By Miltos Sakellaris
British humanitarian Paul Urey, 45, has died while being held hostage by pro-Russian separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), a local official in the rebel-held region said.
His mother, Linda Urey, said she was “absolutely devastated” and described the separatists as “murderers”.
In her Facebook post she wrote: “I’m really angry. I told you he was a very sick man, [σας] I said he was diabetic, I begged Sky News to give me my son back. Why did you let him die? I want answers. Why didn’t you let him go? “I hate you all. I’m absolutely outraged, I really am. I’m angry, very very very very angry. Murderers, that’s what you are.”
On April 29, the non-profit network Presidium said Paul Urey had been detained at a checkpoint in southern Ukraine with a Briton, Dylan Healy. The two men were later accused of “collusion” by separatists in the rebel-controlled DNR. Daria Morozova, the DNR’s inmate rights mediator, wrote on Telegram on Friday that Urey died on July 10 as a result of “illness and stress.”
“Already during the first medical examination, Paul Urey was diagnosed with a number of chronic diseases, including insulin-dependent diabetes, damage to the respiratory system, kidneys and a number of diseases of the cardiovascular system”Morozova added.
Britain’s Foreign Office summoned the Russian ambassador, Andrei Kelin, on Friday afternoon to express “deep concern” over reports of Urey’s death.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: “I am shocked to hear reports of the death of British aid worker Paul Urey while in the custody of a Russian proxy in Ukraine. Russia must bear full responsibility for this.”
In early May, Urey appeared on Russian state television in handcuffs. In the video, which his mother said was made under duress, he criticized the UK government and criticized the British media’s coverage of the war. His sisters told Sky News at the time: ‘We’re just coping for now. We really don’t know anything, like if he’ll be okay there, if he’s coming home, or if he’s going back to Ukraine as a prisoner exchange.
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