We need £10k to bring body of our dad home
THE daughters of a British aid worker who reportedly died after being captured by Russian forces in Ukraine claim they’ve been told to stump up £10,000 to bring their dad’s body home.
Paul Urey, 45, was captured along with another worker on April 25 at a checkpoint south of the city of Zaporizhzhia in south-eastern Ukraine.
Russian-backed forces later claimed Mr Urey, who they labelled as British ‘mercenary’ had died in captivity on July 15.
His daughters, Chelsea, 20, and Courtney Coman, 17, from Audenshaw, say were informed of their dad’s death by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Chelsea said her dad’s body is yet to be released by Russian forces in the Donetsk region – but claim they’ve been quoted up to £10,000 by the FCDO to repatriate their father if and when his body is freed.
Daria Morozova, the human rights ombudsperson for the Moscow-backed separatist leadership said Mr Urey had died of ‘chronic illness and stress.’
The Presidium Network, a nonprofit group, said in April that Mr Urey and Dylan Healey, from Cambridgeshire, travelled to Ukraine of their own accord.
The organisation said the pair were driving to help a woman and two children to evacuate when they went missing.
Mr Urey, 45, was charged with ‘mercenary activities’ by investigators in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Mirror reports. Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, was summoned to the Foreign Office to face questioning over what happened to Mr Urey, as The Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, demanded Moscow bears the ‘full responsibility’ for his death.
Chelsea said she and her sister were not aware that their dad had travelled to Ukraine, and only discovered he had been captured from news reports.
Courtney and Chelsea have now launched a gofundme page to help try and raise the funds needed to bring their father’s body back. They understand his body is still in the hold of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR).
“The Russian’s have not agreed to release his body yet but if and when they do we have to raise the money to bring him home ourselves,” Chelsea said. “We were told by the FCDO that to bring his body back would cost between £8,000 to £10,000.”
Chelsea says she has also contacted the Russian embassy in London in the hope they might assist with negotiating a deal to have their dad’s body released.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have been approached for comment.