A British mine clearance specialist has been killed in an explosion in Ukraine.
Chris Garrett, 40, was killed while carrying out work for an explosive clearance team near Izyum, Kharkhiv Oblast in eastern Ukraine.
Another member of the group was killed and one was injured in the blast, which occurred while they carried out explosive ordinance disposal near the front line.
The i Paper had interviewed him several times, most recently in March, where he spoke about the scale of the demining operation in Ukraine requiring more than 100 years.
Shaun Pinner, a former British Army soldier and Ukrainian marine who worked alongside Mr Garrett for the volunteer group Prevail, said his death was “a terrible shock for us”.
He told The i Paper: “We have to deal with each stage as it comes. We’d like people to give the families time to process this information, and we’ll release statements shortly.”
Mr Pinner said investigations into what happened were being carried out by military and police officials, with his team learning about the fatal incident on Tuesday.
Chris Garret, a British bomb disposal expert, has been killed in an explosion in Ukraine (Photo: Instagram@bring_me_the_swampy)Originally from the Isle of Man, Mr Garrett first travelled to Ukraine in 2014 and had worked for years as a bomb disposal specialist on and off the frontline.
He helped train Ukrainian troops and police in clearing unexploded ordinance before founding Prevail, a non-governmental organisation providing mine clearance training, medical support and casualty evacuation.
A former tree surgeon, his work alongside Ukraine’s military saw him sentenced in absentia to 14 years in a penal colony by a kangaroo court in Russian-controlled Donetsk, a punishment he shrugged off.
In February, he described narrowly escaping being hit by a salvo of Russian kamikaze drones in a night-time bombardment.
(Originally from the Isle of Man, he had first travelled to Ukraine in 2014 Photo: Instagram@bring_me_the_swampy)Footage showed him and his team scrambling for cover after Shahed unmanned combat aerial vehicles exploded, as Russia targeted energy infrastructure in the port of Odesa.
Speaking at the time, he said: “I understand the risks at the end of the day, and I’m willing to make a calculated risk if it’s beneficial to supporting the people that might need that help.”
In 2022 at the start of the war, he helped clear around 50 tonnes of explosives from areas like Irpin and Bucha, the sites of Russian atrocities against civilians, and Hostomel, the airport near Kyiv, where Ukrainian forces repelled Moscow’s paratroopers in a fierce battle.
Artillery rounds, helicopter rockets, small arms ammunition, booby traps and tank shells were among the deadly munitions he had helped make safe.
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He described how Russian forces stuffed hand grenades into washing machine drawers as they booby trapped civilian premises indiscriminately.
In December, 2022, he spoke from near the frontline where he and his team were defusing landmines and missiles to allow wounded Ukrainian troops to be evacuated in the south east of the country.
Russian artillery was pounding the area forcing the team to dig foxholes for shelter or retreat in their vehicles during heavy bombardments.
At one point, he had to defuse a long coil-like device containing 700kg of explosives used to clear minefields that was wrapped around a tree.
He previously helped set up a de-mining operation in Burma, where he learned “on the job” from EOD experts, before defusing “bigger and bigger munitions” in Ukraine.
After leaving Ukraine in 2017, he returned in 2022 three days after the war broke out.
At the start of the war, he worked alongside Nate Vance, a cousin of US Vice President JD Vance in Ukraine as part of an ordnance disposal team.
In 2023, he returned to the Isle of Man after news he and his partner were expecting a child, before coming back to Ukraine.
The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to Ukraine, including for the purpose of fighting, and has urged British nationals to leave Ukraine immediately when safe to do so.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are in contact with the local authorities following the death of a British national in Ukraine.”
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