2 British volunteers missing in Ukraine

BIRMINGHAM, England

Two British nationals have gone missing in Ukraine’s Bakhmut region, the UK Foreign Office said Monday.

Christopher Parry, 28, and Andrew Bagshaw, 48, reportedly disappeared on Jan. 6 near the city of Soledar while helping local residents move to safety amid the war with Russia.

Their families are being supported and a search operation is continuing, the Foreign Office said in the statement.

In Ukraine, the National Police Department released a statement saying they are searching for the two men.

"On Jan. 7 around 5:15 p.m., the duty unit of the Bakhmut district police department received a report on the disappearance of two volunteers -- citizens of Great Britain aged 28 and 48. The day before, Jan. 6, at eight o’clock in the morning, Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry left Kramatorsk for Soledar, but contact with them was lost,” it said.

Soledar is a small city in the eastern Bakhmut region, where Ukrainian troops have been involved in heavy fighting with Russian forces and the Russian mercenary group Wagner.

"The enemy again made a desperate attempt to storm the city of Soledar from different directions and threw the most professional units of the Wagnerites into battle,” the Ukrainian military said in a statement:

The British Foreign Office is warning against all travel to Ukraine as the war with Russia continues into its 11th month. London is also asking its citizens to immediately leave Ukraine.

There have been several cases of British nationals going missing or being captured in Ukraine. Last September, five British nationals who were being held by Russian-backed forces were released after an exchange of detainees brokered by Saudi Arabia.