An ex-British army sniper has been killed in Ukraine after sacrificing himself being gunned down by a Russian drone in a bid to save his fellow servicemen.
Former Royal Welsh Fusilier Alexander Garms-Rizzi, 23, placed himself as ‘bait’ in an attempt to divert three of his Ukrainian servicemen being shot in battle.
The three men had managed to get to the a bunker during the brutal clash with Putin’s troops in the eastern side of the war-torn country.
But despite having reached a shelter, one of the soldiers had been seriously injured, The Sun reports.
Brave Alexander was then fatally hit by a Russian drone in ‘no man’s land’ between the Russian and Ukrainian soldiers as he attempted to save his comrades by running in circles as they sped to a nearby bunker.
His commander as well as his fellow troops commended his bravery yesterday, as they grieved the young Brit, who has been boasted as one of the most courageous Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines.
In a touching tribute, his heartbroken best friend – a Finnish volunteer whose call name is ‘Finn’ told the publication that Mr Garms-Rizzi ‘was born a fighter’.
‘[He] died how he would have wanted – with honour while helping others,’ he said.
Former Royal Welsh Fusilier Alexander Garms-Rizzi, 23, (pictured in a mask) has been gunned down in a bid to save his fellow troops
His fellow soldier described him as a ‘very well-liked’ young man, who saved lives, adding that both commanders and troops ‘loved’ the Brit.
According to the publication, the former British Army sniper is now being lined up to receive a posthumous bravery medal.
The soldier, whose mother is Russian, went AWOL during a British Army NATO exercise in Estonia during March 2022.
At the time he told officers he felt compelled to fight in the conflict and made no effort to conceal his actions.
He had also sent his unit a message admitting he had crossed the border to join pro-Ukrainian forces.
After two months he came back to the UK voluntarily and was handed a year prison sentence by a court martial for defying orders to remain.
The young sniper had reportedly made his way back to the Ukrainian trenches after serving eight months behind bars on British soil.
Alexander – who went by the name Sasha on the frontlines – is understood to have died in battle but it is too perilous to recover his body.
His commander, who described the late soldier as ‘very brave’ explained that on the day of his death, he alongside other Ukrainian servicemen were in a dugout which had collapsed.
Divulging the final moments of Alexander’s live, he said that the courageous troop ‘distracted the drone’ by sprinting in a circle as his comrades rushed to safety 500 metres away in a neighbouring bunker.
‘In the end two of the guys survived unscathed, though the other one was seriously wounded near the dugout – but Sasha didn’t make it,’ the commander told The Sun.
‘They later searched for him with drones and found his body, but it hasn’t been evacuated yet.
‘He took a different path and was only about 100 metres from safety when he was hit. He died a hero.’
The ex-army soldier was previously locked up for a year after a judge ruled that his actions of fleeing to Ukrainian frontlines risked dragging Britain into a war with Russia.
A court martial heard the soldier, a fluent Russian speaker, had been deployed to Estonia in November 2021 with the rest of his unit as part of Operation Cabrit and NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence in the region
The military court heard that by operating as a ‘rifleman’ alongside Ukrainian militia, Garms-Rizzi had defied orders and created a security risk Prosecutors said that had he been captured ‘the potential harm… is difficult to overstate’.
Garms-Rizzi went on leave from March 2022, and failed to return two weeks later, the court was told. When his unit managed to contact him, the soldier, who lived in Russian until the age of 12 and had Ukrainian friends, admitted he had gone to join the war.
Passing sentence at the time, Judge Advocate General Darren Reed said: ‘[Your actions were] deliberate and pre-meditated. You lived in Russia until you were 12 years old and spent summers there after leaving.
He added: ‘You spent nearly six months AWOL. Members of the British Army are not authorised to go to Ukraine.
‘The order not to go to Ukraine could not have been clearer. The order was there to protect British forces and the state from being dragged into the conflict.’
Representing himself, Garms-Rizzi told the hearing he had not been able to ‘just stand by and watch things unfold’ while his Ukrainian school friends were killed. He said: ‘I handed myself in at Dover. My mother is Russian.
‘If I go back to Russia [to see her] I will be sentenced to the Gulag. I can’t see anyone in Russia. [I went because] my friends were getting killed. I have Ukrainian friends from school who I met in Russia. I think I did the right thing. [My role in Ukraine] was a mixture of rifleman work and humanitarian. It was translation and medical care.
Alongisde a year long prison sentence, the court dismissed Alexander of Tidworth Barracks, from the British Army.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
