A former Conservative MP ousted in the 2024 election has reportedly joined the International Legion in Ukraine in a non-combat role to help the fight against Russia.
Jack Lopresti, who represented the Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency in South Gloucestershire from 2010 to 2024, is carrying out support work for the unit, including foreign relations and diplomacy duties, weapons procurement and work with veterans and charities, the Independent reported.
Lopresti’s ex-wife, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, a former Conservative minister who defected to Reform UK after losing her parliamentary seat in 2024, said on X that she and her son had been unaware of his decision to join the unit, adding: “I wish him a safe return.”
Lopresti, 55, a former deputy chair of the Conservative party, told the Independent: “I’m based in Kyiv, but I constantly travel across Ukraine,” adding that in the past week he had been to the cities of Kharkiv and Poltava in the country’s east.
“It is a huge honour and an immense privilege for me to serve in the Ukrainian military and be able to help the gallant and amazing Ukrainian people in any way I can,” he said.
“They are not only fighting for their freedom and their right to exist as a independent and sovereign nation – they are also fighting for all of us, in Europe and the rest of the free world.”
Lopresti served in the Territorial Army as a gunner with 266 Commando Battery, Royal Artillery from 2007, and later served as a mobilised reservist with 29 Commando RA for a year and was deployed in Helmand province in Afghanistan.
Before his parliamentary career he worked for his father’s ice-cream business for a decade.
Official advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office suggests it is illegal for British citizens to fight in Ukraine.
It reads: “If you travel to Ukraine to fight, or to assist others engaged in the war, your activities may amount to offences under UK legislation. You could be prosecuted on your return to the UK.”
There are no examples of any Britons being prosecuted in the UK for fighting in Ukraine. In October, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, signed a bill allowing foreign volunteers fighting in Ukraine’s International Legion to serve as officers. Until then, volunteers could fight only as privates or sergeants.
Article by:Source: Jamie Grierson
