A former British Army sniper was killed on the frontline in Ukraine after volunteering to fight against Russia.
Christopher “Pezz’” Perryman, 38, was killed on a mission after he joined a unit of Western volunteers in the war-torn country.
The Brit ex-soldier travelled to Ukraine shortly after Putin’s invasion in March 2022Credit: Twitter
His tragic death comes months after the British dad of one, from County Durham, had made a chilling prediction about his fate.
Perryman had posted on social media in April: “Beware an old man in a profession where men die young.”
The former sniper who served in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, 1st Battalion, for 16 years, first travelled to Lviv shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While he initially intended to help train Ukrainian forces, he ended up joining the 131st Battalion special reconnaissance unit as a sniper.
Tributes have poured in for the Brit dad who leaves behind his 11-year-old son.
A fellow volunteer who was on the same operation where Perryman was killed told i: “Pezz is a big loss for everyone.”
While his devastated sister posted on social media: “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.”
Another one wrote: “A true gent & without doubt epitomised the “Best of British” fighting for the right reasons in a foreign land.
“Now an eternal hero. My deepest condolences to his close family and friends. He would give you the clothes off his back, & literally gave me his bed.”
The 38-year-old, originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, worked as a security guard protecting HS2 from eco protesters.
But following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Perryman, who had previously served in Iraq decided to quit his job and join the fight.
“I’ve never liked bullies and Putin is a bully, so off I went,” he told the Spectator earlier this year.
The brave sniper returned to the UK following an injury last year but went back to Ukraine and joined another unit of Western volunteers in speedboat missions along the Dnipro River.
His team helped liberate Russian-held villages as Kherson was retaken by Ukrainian forces.
Speaking to the i last year he said he felt “sick to the pit of my stomach” seeing Russian forces targeting civilians.
He said: “I always vowed that I would do what I could in my life to stop bullies.
“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.”
Hundreds of Brits are believed to have travelled to Ukraine to join the fight against Russia.
The first British casualty was 36-year-old volunteer Scott Sibley who was killed in the frontline after his unit was attacked.
Another British victim of the war was Jordan Gatley, who was killed by Putin’s forces last June in the city of Severodonetsk.
Hero aid workers Christopher Parry, 28, and Andrew Bagshaw, 48, were helping evacuate civilians from the frontline in the eastern Bakhmut region when they were both killed in an artillery strike.
The pair had attempted a humanitarian evacuation from Soledar when they were struck.
Andrew Bagshaw, 48, had been helping evacuate civilians from Soledar, in the eastern Donbas region, with fellow British aid worker Chris Parry, 28, when they were killed in January.
