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    'My son was 18, British and killed fighting for Ukraine'
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    ‘My son was 18, British and killed fighting for Ukraine’

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    3. JC3896 on

      Bleak fucking story man. Spent years hero-worshipping online then instantly found out about the harsh realities of war as soon as he got there. Thoughts with his family, that’s awful.

    4. PJBuzz on

      The BBC putting the title as:

      >’My son was 18 and went to Ukraine as cannon fodder’

      When what the main crux of the fathers sentiment is:

      >”He was possibly a younger version of me. Maybe if I was him at a younger age I would have probably done the same thing.”

      feels like incredibly poor taste.

      I don’t know the realities of war but when you volunteer for a poorly equipped army, which is hugely outnumbered and on the losing side… it seems pretty obvious that you’re going to be under pretty intense pressure and a high likelyhood of losing your life.

      It seems to me, from this article, like this young man died fighting for what he believed was the right thing to do. He should be treated as a hero, not have his death minimised to that of “cannon fodder”.

    7. Adam-West on

      When did they start accepting people with no military experience? I thought you needed to be a veteran to join. That is a major fuck up from the international legion and one that needs to be corrected. They shouldn’t be allowing their closest allies to send naive 18 year olds to fight.

      I fully support our support for Ukraine but we need to draw this as a red line. Hopefully that’s something positive that could at least come from this

    8. Standard-Reward-4049 on

      Kudos for having the balls to do what very few of us would have the balls to even contemplate

    9. Bbrhuft on

      Ukraine’s minimum conscription age is 25 years, it used to be 27, but was reduced to 25 last year. The min age of foreign volunteers is 18 however.

    11. -CJJC- on

      I commend his bravery, mourn his unnecessary death and condemn this pointless war. I cannot imagine the grief of his father and family. I pray that they are able to heal and that this foolish war ends soon.

    13. Critical_Cut_6016 on

      Brave but very naïve even delusional young man.

      The last phone call to his dad sums it up.

      “I don’t think I’m going to be here as long as what I might be. It’s a little bit different to what I thought”

      It sounds here like he was putting on a brave face to his father, but the reality of what it actually was was setting in.

      Many people will want to lionise him, and he was incredibly brave but I think for other young men, and for the truth of this war, we need to be honest.

      He died in a cold barren field at the hands of a robot, for inches of mud and the interests of rich and powerful old men.
      It was heroic, but pointless, and a waste of life.

      This whole war is colossal and miserable waste of life.

    16. skepticCanary on

      Given everything that’s going on in Ukraine, like Russian missiles killing children and Ukrainians POWs being slaughtered, why do the BBC choose to focus on a British volunteer who was killed on the front line 6 months ago?

    17. Glorfindel42 on

      Fight against Putin and a fascist state. 07 brother he was braver than the Reddit and internet warriors of the world.

    18. jimjamuk73 on

      This is no different to any situation in the world that causes people to go to help because it sits with them that they have to do something and not sit comfortably at home. Whether it’s charities in the wider world orl help in warzones people take risks and help other people out.

      If this poor guy had survived until the end of the war he might be a war hero, but sadly he was killed and so labelled as a waste of life.

      Basically if Russia hadn’t invaded a neighbouring country then none of this loss of life would have happened….. They deserve everything that is coming to them when they have realised they have completed totalled their own economy to do this

    20. Pleasant-Put5305 on

      Some people are born for war, they can’t help it, the authorities would love to stop it due to bad press, but how? He is an adult British citizen – a human on planet earth with total freedom of choice – which is pretty unusual in itself. Hopefully he went out living his dream. Peace.

    21. Frap_Gadz on

      Gotta fucking question the BBCs thinking with this story.

      Yes, war is a seemingly unending calvalcade of tragedy. The grim reality of war should be lost on nobody.

      However this lad believed enough in his convictions he volunteered to put his life on the line to defend them. There are thousands of tragedies to be found here, but the greatest tragedy would be if there were no people like James who have the courage to stand against aggressors who wish to conquer and subjugate others. It would be a very dim world indeed, which would undoubtedly hold many worse fates than death.

    23. ChaChaBeaks on

      It is very sad. He must have been an incredibly brave man. I agree that the BBC headline diminishes his sacrifice.

    24. Standard-Reward-4049 on

      Seems a lot of people on this comment section think the guy was stupid, or naive. Yep, naive I can get, but he put his own life on the line to defend others.

      Maybe he saw, like I did, the video of the father and son who tried to retrieve their dogs from their apartment when they left hastily at the beginning of the invasion. Perhaps he watch the Russians shoot at their civilian car, shoot the father as his son watched on screaming ‘no father no’. Then maybe he saw the Russians gun down the son and shoot their 2 dogs, throwing all the bodies in a ditch.

      Maybe he saw the video of the mother and her two children who were assured safe passage out of their village only to be shelled as they left, all 3 laying dead on the road.

      Maybe James saw this and was so angry, so disgusted at innocent people being butchered and he felt compelled to help. Some people are like that, selfless. For me, that is what Jame’s actions were, because there is no other explanation. If I could ever be half as brave as James , I’ve done a good job

    25. MovingTarget2112 on

      Brave lad.

      I thought about going at one point, but I am too old and can’t handle the cold.