The family of brave British soldier Callum Tindal-Draper, 22, has paid tribute to him following his death fighting Vladimir Putin’s Russian troops in Ukraine this week.
A young Brit hero who fought alongside volunteers in Ukraine has been tragically killed while fighting Russian troops.
Tributes have been paid following the death of Callum Tindal-Draper, 22, who was killed in action on November 5. “When we found out he’d died, there was just this hole which I can’t describe and it’s always going to be there,” Callum’s devastated mum Caroline said.
“But to know that they are saying he inspired them and they called him their little brother because he was the youngest one out there, they really were a family unit, and that is helping heal us and helping us get by. Already that hole I thought could not be mended is being filled with overwhelming love from his family out there and it means so much.”
Callum was fighting against Vladimir Putin’s barbaric invasion with the 4th International Legion in Ukraine. His family was informed that he was defending an observation point when the area was targeted by Russian soldiers.
Callum had joined the Ukrainian ranks following Putin’s invasion in February 2022. Following his death, his unit sent heartfelt messages to his family, calling him their “little brother”, The Sun reported. The hero soldier’s dad, Steven, said: “It’s inspiring me to go out and think what can I do and how can I be as brave and courageous in the things that I do. I’ve got the bravest of the brave as a son as an inspiration and that’s really powerful.”
The former hospital worker went to fight in Ukraine despite pleas from his family not to go. Steven explained his family “begged and begged” him not to join up, but he went anyway. “Callum said ‘dad, I’m not frightened of bullies and what’s going on in Ukraine is awful and someone needs to stand up for these people’,” Steven revealed. The family are now waiting for Callum’s body to be repatriated.
In October, special operations expert Corporal Chris Gill, 35, died during an exercise with his regiment on the Brecon Beacons, Wales, while training Ukrainian forces. Russia, meanwhile, is mounting an intensified aerial campaign that Ukrainian officials say they need more Western help to counter. Doubts are deepening over what Kyiv can expect from a new US administration, however, given that President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly taken issue with US aid to Ukraine, made vague vows to end the war and has praised Putin.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said Moscow and Washington were “exchanging signals” on Ukraine via “closed channels”. He did not specify whether the communication was with the current administration or Mr Trump and members of his incoming administration.
Russia is ready to listen to Mr Trump’s proposals on Ukraine provided these were “ideas on how to move forward in the area of settlement, and not in the area of further pumping the Kyiv regime with all kinds of aid”, Mr Ryabkov said in an interview with Russian state news agency Interfax. Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said to President Volodymyr Zelensky this week that the UK’s support for Ukraine was “iron clad”.
