The mum of a British aid worker believed to have been captured by Russian forces in Ukraine says: “I begged him not to go.”
Two volunteers – Paul Urey, 45, and Dylan Healy, 22 – are thought to have been seized at a checkpoint on Monday while trying to evacuate a woman and two children.
It is feared the Russians will claim the men are spies.
Paul’s mum Linda, 62, said he had been in Ukraine for about 10 days, adding: “He’d been over there before and then he went back. I begged him not to.
“I said ‘please don’t go’. He said ‘Mum, I can’t live with myself knowing people need help to get to a safe place. I have to go’. He is too caring. He is too kind...
“You don’t mess with the Russians. I feel like I am going to die.
“I don’t know what to do. It is horrible. I know nothing and I want them to give him back.”
She said Paul, who has type 1 diabetes and needs insulin, would normally contact her every day, but has not been in touch for days.
Linda added: “Something is wrong. They have got him, definitely. He would contact me if he could, and he can’t. All he wanted to do is help people.”
Linda, of Preston, Lancs, added: “I feel like I am in my worst nightmare.”
Aid group Presidium Network said the two men – civilians working as part of a project in Ukraine to provide food, medical supplies and evacuation support – were captured while driving near south-eastern city Zaporizhzhia.
The Foreign Office said it is investigating. Dylan, a chef, of Huntingdon, Cambs, has been described by pal Allan Moore, 29, as “just a kid from a council estate who went to help”.
He said: “It doesn’t surprise me he went but I’m shocked at the situation now.” Another worried friend Sophie Goldring said Dylan’s messages have stopped, adding: “He sent me a Snapchat. He said he was OK. Apart from that I haven’t heard from him.”
Dominik Byrne, from Presidium Network, said: “We need to put pressure on the Government to take this case seriously, and try to verify this, but also to help us find these people.
“And we want to tell the Russians that these aren’t spies.” The UK organisation added that while it knows of the two men, it is not linked to them.
Two British fighters, Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured by Russians in Mariupol this month. Yesterday another seized UK fighter was paraded on Russian state TV.
He was named as Andrew Hill, a dad-of-four, of Plymouth. His head was bandaged and one arm was in a sling.
The channel said he surrendered in the Mykolaiv region “after the group of mercenaries in which he fought was defeated and he was injured”.
When asked what he would say to other Brits wanting to fight in Ukraine, he replied: “This doesn’t involve us.”
