In Ukraine, the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of British volunteer Jordan Chadwick, who served in a unit of the International Legion, has been ongoing for two years. His body was discovered in the summer of 2023 in a reservoir near Kramatorsk in Donetsk region, with his hands tied behind his back. About this informs the British edition of The Telegraph.
31-year-old Jordan Chadwick – a former soldier of the Scots Guard – went to Ukraine in the fall of 2022, joining a combat unit with the unofficial name “50/50”, which consisted mainly of British and American volunteers. Before the war, he lived in difficult living conditions: he camped in forests and ate in free canteens, he showed signs of exhaustion, but he was determined to join the struggle. He was described as friendly but withdrawn.
In June 2023, local fishermen found his body in thickets of reeds near the shore of the reservoir. According to estimates, he was in the water for one or two days. Chadwick’s hands were tied behind his back when he was discovered.
At first, the comrades assumed that Chadwick could have been taken prisoner by the Russian military, but this seemed unlikely – Kramatorsk was then far from the front line. Later, in private discussions cited by the Telegraph, other versions appeared. Some claimed that the death was related to a so-called “selection” ritual in the style of the British special forces SAS: a volunteer was allegedly immersed in water for the purpose of psychological testing. Others believed that he could be punished for the alleged theft.
In various versions, a British man with the call sign Huggs, who previously served in the French Foreign Legion, appears. His peers called him the prime suspect in the events leading up to Chadwick’s death. Huggs himself, in a conversation with journalists, confirmed that the police suspected him, but assured that he was not the only one who saw Chadwick alive for the last time. He also stated that the deceased had a conflict with another volunteer – Bronko – and came to him with a weapon.
In the end, one of the former members of the unit, a fighter with the call sign Dave, agreed to tell his version. The night before he died, Chadwick, in full combat gear, showed up at Bronco’s house and tried to kill him, he said. As a result of the conflict, the volunteer was twisted and tied, after which, according to Dave, Huggs took him from the scene. A day or two later, the body was found in the water.
This story takes on an even darker tone due to the fact that after the disappearance of Chadwick, some of the participants in the incident went to have dinner at a pizzeria in Kramatorsk. It was the one that was later hit by a Russian missile, as a result of which the Ukrainian writer Viktoria Amelina died. Most of the fighters of the 50/50 unit either died at the front or already left Ukraine. The participants of the events have not yet given a coherent version of what happened to Jordan Chadwick.
Donetsk police investigator Inna Lyakhova, who is leading the case, said that she is leaning towards the version of an accident rather than intentional murder. According to her, an argument broke out between Chadwick and other volunteers, he behaved aggressively, so he was tied with plastic handcuffs and kicked out of the house with the words: “Go away and don’t come back.” No traces of violence were found on the body. Lyakhova believes that he could have entered the water in an inadequate state, lost his orientation, and drowned.
Currently, the circumstances of the death of the British volunteer remain unclear, and the investigation in Ukraine is still ongoing.
