A former British soldier has disappeared after being captured by pro-Russian forces during combat in Ukraine.
Combat medic John Harding, 59, who is believed to be a former paratrooper and Falklands veteran, was seen being evacuated with his comrades after their surrender last month in Mariupol. But he hasn’t been seen since.
Two other Brits who fought at his side, Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were also captured and have since been sentenced to death by Vladimir Putin’s henchmen in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Another captured Briton, father of four, Andrew Hill, 35, is said to face the death sentence.
Harding joined Ukraine’s military five years ago after fighting ISIS in Syria.
59-year-old combat medic John Harding is said to have fought in the Falklands War as a youth
A popular character from north-east England, nicknamed “Pops” by comrades, was featured in TV footage of hundreds of Ukrainian fighters surrendering at the Azovstal industrial plant in Mariupol after 82 days of Russian bombardment.
Now friends and former comrades fear he may have been killed by the separatists, as he was not seen again while other British and American prisoners were being led in front of Russian television cameras for propaganda purposes.
Alex Grant, an American volunteer with the Ukrainian Armed Forces, confirmed that Harding had been featured in news outlet images and that concerns about his fate were mounting. “One can only draw two conclusions: either he was taken to a secret concentration camp, or they murdered him shortly after the surrender,” he said.
Grant, who has known Harding since 2018, described his comrade as “an adventurer and a good medic,” adding, “He always wanted to help and serve the people of Ukraine. He lasted as long as he could in Mariupol and that’s why he’s a hero.”
Harding (centre, head in hand) was last seen on May 20 evacuating Mariupol
In March and April, Harding wrote on social media about life under Russian attack in Azovstal. “I don’t know how close they are, but they don’t seem to be short of ammo,” he said in a post.
After another intense bombardment lasting 12 hours, he wrote: “I wonder how much of the above-ground structure is still intact. I wasn’t on the ground for three or maybe four days. I imagine it’s pretty chaotic up there.”
Once, after three months of growth, he cut his hair off and wrote: “If I die here, I will die a soldier.”
Harding sent news of an escape attempt on May 19 as hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated by Moscow’s forces. It is understood they were taken to an overcrowded prison notorious for its brutality.
Harding served in the British Army for nine years after enlisting at the age of 16. While fighting in Syria, he told his comrades that he had been a paratrooper who took part in the famous “Yomp” over the Falkland Islands during the 1982 war.
The Army veteran, who has a tattoo that reads ‘Happy Days’ on his arm, admitted he’s returned to uniform since missing the camaraderie of military service and combat duty – although he did tell a journalist that “in combat being is a scary thing”. ‘.
He joined the Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State in 2015 after seeing horrifying video footage of a Jordanian pilot burned alive and became commander of a tactical medical unit. He said he “fell in love with the Kurdish struggle and the Kurds.”
A newspaper account the following year described him volunteering to carry a mine and tucking it under his chin to ensure he would not survive in a severely mangled state if it exploded.
The newspaper also detailed Harding’s desperate but failed efforts to rescue a six-year-old boy who had been shot in the chest. “I purposely avoid thinking about him because it hurts, but I see his likeness in every six or seven-year-old child I see,” he said.
A civilian electrical engineer, Harding joined Ukraine’s fight against Russian-backed separatists in the eastern region of the Donbass in 2017 along with his friends Aslin, a former Newark care worker, and Pinner, who has a Ukrainian wife and also served there british army.
Last night, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Azov Regiment – the volunteer militia that fought the Russians after their 2014 invasion and later became part of the Kiev National Guard – confirmed that Harding was a member of the medical unit of his second battalion, which was hiding in Azovstal .
Bo Warren, who spent four months with Harding while serving on the front lines of the Kurdish Armed Forces, said, “Everyone loved Pops because he was an older character who had seen it all.”
He added that Harding felt it was his destiny to die in war after seeing so many friends in Africa, the Middle East, the South Atlantic and Ukraine fall in battle. “I don’t think he intended to die of old age.”
A Foreign Office source said efforts were being made to verify reports of Britons who may have been involved in the fighting, but conceded: “Given the situation in Ukraine, our opportunities for information and consular services are limited place to offer, severely restricted .’