Decomposing body found in search for missing Brit ex-soldier Daniel Burke in Ukraine near war frontline
A decomposing body was found near the war front in Ukraine as police searched for missing British ex-soldier Daniel Burke.
Investigators discovered the human remains but claimed they were too decayed to be visually identified.
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Former British soldier Daniel Burke, 36, was last seen on August 11 in Zaporizhia, more than 15 miles from the nearest front line.
A police source said investigators remained open-minded and continued to pursue all lines of inquiry.
Burke, a former paratrooper from Manchester, had a number of distinctive tattoos and last year founded the Dark Angels group – a British-led team of international volunteers.
In June, he led a daring mission in which he bombarded a Russian armored vehicle with a Javelin anti-tank missile in the bloody Battle of Kherson.
The unit began the commando-style raid after troops from Ukraine’s 28th Brigade gave it an £80,000 fire-and-forget missile.
Bodycam footage showed the four-member team sneaking up on a ridge to fire the U.S.-made guided missile.
But Burke had later shifted his focus to rescue missions, evacuating stranded civilians from the bombed east of Bakhmut and the Zaporizhzhia front line.
Friends now fear he was murdered after another British fighter, Jordan Chadwick, a former Scottish Guard soldier, was found in a body of water with his hands tied behind his back in June.
The cases have not been officially linked.
According to a source, police discovered the human remains based on a tip.
They did not reveal the exact location, but said it was in Zaporizhzhia district.
A police source said: “We need to do a DNA analysis to find out if it is Daniel Burke.”
“Daniel has been missing for five weeks, it’s possible that this body has been there for much longer, so it may not be him.
“We remain open-minded and continue to actively pursue other areas of our research.”
Burke met The Sun in Zaporizhia 36 hours before his disappearance and appeared to be in good spirits at the time.
He said he had a regular income from a wealthy donor in the US.
Daniel’s friend Sam Newey, 22, was also killed at the front in August, two weeks after Burke’s disappearance.
Sources close to his foreign combat unit said the bloody trench warfare became so intense that troops fought hand-to-hand before Sam was blown up on August 30.
Sam had been fighting for eight months in one of the most dangerous areas of the Ukrainian front line.
His older brother Dan, also from Solihull, Birmingham, fought alongside him but had recently returned to Britain.
Sam studied psychology at Birmingham University and had no military experience when he decided to join the fight against Putin’s forces.
Deciding to follow his brother’s example and fight another man’s war, he joined Burke – and an old family friend – as a member of the Dark Angels.
Burke was last seen on Friday, August 11, driving out of the city of Zaporizhzhia with an Australian fighter of Lebanese descent, Nourine Abdelfetah, known by his call sign Adam.
Mr Abdelfetah said they returned to the city in the evening and he dropped Burke off at his apartment.
Police searched the apartment in the city and found no signs of a break-in or fight.
Bizarrely, a social media account linked to Burke’s Ukrainian cell phone number said he was “last seen” on Monday.
Burke served in the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment from 2007 to 2009 and volunteered to fight Islamic State terrorists in Syria in 2017.
Burke’s father Kevin said his son’s unexplained disappearance was “devastating.”
He said: “The worst thing is not knowing.
“It is completely out of character for Daniel to simply disappear like this and we are truly grateful to the police in Zaporizhzhia for their efforts in investigating so many different lines of inquiry.”
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