British sniper killed in Ukraine seven months after posting defiant message

Christopher Perryman served in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, 1st Battalion, for 16 years

An ex-British Army sniper who travelled to Ukraine to ‘defend the weak and the needy’ after Russia’s invasion last year has been killed.

Christopher Perryman, known as Pezz, died almost seven months after he posted a defiant warning to his opponents on the battlefield via social media.

On April 1, he wrote: ‘Beware an old man in a profession where men die young.’

According to a tribute from his family posted on X, formerly Twitter, the 38-year-old was killed in an operation on October 24 while fighting alongside other Western volunteers.

Perryman, originally from Newcastle-on-Tyne, had first gone to Ukraine shortly after Russia invaded in February last year, after serving in the British Army as a platoon sergeant.

He made the journey after becoming fed up with his job as a security guard protecting HS2 from environmental protesters.

In an interview with i last year, he said: ‘Yes, I signed an oath of allegiance to defend the Queen and Britain, but my oath doesn’t just stop with defending my country.

‘I signed an oath to defend the weak and the needy and people who need help.

‘In Ukraine, we were fighting every day for all of those people getting killed every day unnecessarily. It does give you a reason to fight harder.’

Perryman first travelled to Ukraine soon after Russia’s invasion

He was injured last year, but returned to Ukraine after spending his recovery back in the UK.

According to an interview in the Spectator, he completed four missions along the Dnipro river between December and April, travelling from island to island on a speedboat.

Perryman, whose 11-year-old son back in the UK believed he was simply training Ukrainian troops, is now among at least 11 British nationals who have been killed after travelling to fight in the country.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel to Ukraine due to the risks.

More: Russia-Ukraine war

A comment from his sister was posted on social media by one of his fellow soldiers.

It said: ‘Last night our hearts were shattered and our world torn apart… we lost Pezz Perryman.

‘He died a true hero, fighting a war that was never his to fight.

‘I don’t think we as a family will ever get over this. He went to Ukraine to help others, and it cost him his life.

‘A soldier through and through born and bred, may u sleep well my brother you have took a piece of me with you!’

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