Held by Putin, UK aid workers helping families to f lee war
The mother of a British aid worker captured by the Russians has said she is ‘praying for her son’ who has urgent medical needs.
Paul Urey, 45, was arrested with his colleague Dylan healy, 22, at a Russian military checkpoint in eastern Ukraine earlier this week.
Mr Urey, from Warrington, Cheshire, has type 1 diabetes and requires regular insulin, which his captors may be unable or unwilling to supply. Their seizure brings the numbers of Britons currently held by the Russians to five.
The father-of-four has no military experience but is accustomed to hostile environments having spent eight years in Afghanistan as a civilian contractor.
he and Mr healy, a former chef from huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, were delivering desperately needed humanitarian supplies and assisting terrified civilians to escape the fighting.
early on Monday morning Mr Urey told his mother Linda, 62, he was going ‘off radar’ for a couple of days, a reference to the mission he was about to undertake.
She said: ‘Before he went out there I had said to him, “Please don’t go”. But he said he couldn’t live with himself knowing people needed help to get to a safe place. “I have to go,” he said.
‘I was on Facetime with him till 4am on Monday morning then that was it, gone. he was saying he was going off radar and he would get back to me.
‘he is too caring, too kind. I feel like I am in my worst nightmare, I feel like I want to die. I am praying for my son. he has type 1 diabetes and needs his insulin.
‘My biggest fear is he won’t have enough with him. I want to get the Russians to make sure of his medication and send him home.’
After that video call Mr Urey and Mr healy set off towards the city of Zaporizhzhia in a bid to rescue a mother and father and their two children.
Their intended route took them through Ukrainian and Russianoccupied territory. When they reached a Russian vehicle checklie point near the city soldiers stopped their car and began to question them. They were subsequently arrested on suspicion of being ‘British spies’.
hours after their arrest Russian troops stormed the house of the family they were hoping to rescue. The parents were forced to on the floor as they were questioned about their relationship with ‘British spies’.
Last night, Mr healy’s mother helen said: ‘We’re very concerned for his welfare. We don’t want to say anything else at present.’
One of Mr healy’s friends, Allan Moore, who used to play football with him for the huntingdon Rangers Sunday League team, said he believes his friend went to Ukraine ‘to try and help and make a difference’.
Mr Urey and Mr healy had been working for the Presidium Network, a non-profit organisation.
But one of its founders Dominik Byrne said the aid agency had not sanctioned their journey towards Zaporizhzhia, or the attempt to rescue the family stranded there. he said: ‘We want the UK government to help us find these people. They’re not spies, they’re not military people. They’re just humanitarian workers who got caught in a bad situation.’
After her son’s arrest, Mrs Urey received a message online from someone claiming to be her son. But the person did not call her ‘mum’ so she grew suspicious.
The Presidium Network also received a suspicious message. As the sender did not use prearranged code words, it may have been sent by a Russian official.
Last night the Foreign Office said it was seeking more information following their capture. Western officials suggested the Russians may seek to use captured Westerners as bargaining chips to secure the release of thousands of captured Russian soldiers.
‘He is too caring – too kind’