2 UK volunteer aid workers held by Russian forces in Ukraine: Report

By Muhammad Mussa

LONDON (AA) - Two British volunteer aid workers have allegedly been captured by Russian forces in Ukraine, local media reported on Friday.

Paul Urey and Dylan Healy were captured on Monday at a checkpoint in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, family members of the former told Sky News.

"My family and I are extremely worried. We know Paul and his friend who are humanitarian aid volunteers in Ukraine have been captured by the Russians,” Urey’s family said in a statement to the media outlet.

"He was out there on his own accord. We want everyone's support to bring him home and pray he is safe,” the statement said.

Presidium Network, a UK-based non-profit organization, said that the two humanitarian workers were volunteers assisting in the evacuation of a woman and two children in the region when they were captured at the checkpoint.

Urey has Type 1 diabetes and requires insulin, according to the charity, which last spoke with the volunteer before he was captured.

"Our concern for these individuals is that the Russians will paint them as British spies, which is untrue. They are civilian volunteers,” Dominik Byrne, one of the charity's founders, asserted.

On Thursday, the government confirmed that one British citizen had died in the Ukraine war and another had gone missing.

Earlier this month, two more British nationals were captured by Russian forces. Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were detained in the besieged city of Mariupol in Ukraine's southeast.