EVERY time Brit Sam Newey went on a mission with his Ukrainian comrades to fight Russian oppression, he would call his mum to tell her how much he loved her.
Then one day the phone calls stopped.
Sam (front) died after taking a direct hit from enemy forcessupplied
Sam (right) with brother Daniel, who also went to Ukraine to fightNigel Iskander
Sam, 22, took a direct mortar shell hit after his unit stormed a trench and saved 12 prisoners close to the frontline city of Kharkiv.
Sam’s heroics in September 2023 won him two medals of honour in Ukraine.
Today, in an exclusive interview with The Sun, his mum Vikki Downes tells how two of her four sons went to war in Ukraine but only one came back.
Sam’s big brother Daniel, 32, also fought on the frontline in Ukraine – sometimes shoulder to shoulder with his sibling – and once fought against ISIS in Syria.
Vikki said: “Daniel took Sam’s death really hard. He was back in Britain for a bit of respite when he got the call to say his brother had been killed.
“Daniel was living with me at the time and I got a call from him out of the blue, asking me to get home as fast as I could.
“When I got home he was standing in the hall and just started saying, ‘I’m sorry mum, I’m sorry, Sam is dead’.
“When I think about that moment all the feelings come back up but I’m incredibly proud of Sam – of both my boys.”
Community nurse Vikki says her boys have faced criticism for fighting in the war-torn region with someone once cruelly telling her: “Sam got what he deserved.”
She said: “I’ve had people tell me that Sam was an idiot and he got what he deserved because he should have never been in Ukraine, that it was his own fault.
“My reply is always, ‘Okay, that’s your opinion but you’re only allowed to voice your opinion because of the values Sam – and Daniel – were fighting for, freedom and democracy.’”
Vikki said she was left in tears by US President Donald Trump’s roasting of Ukraine’s President in a live TV interview last week.
Trump ordered Volodymyr Zelensky out of the Oval Office after a fiery public exchange over a minerals deal that would have ensured American presence in the region. He then paused the delivery of weapons to the country.
In defiance of Trump, world leaders voiced their support for Ukraine’s leader and Europe rallied with renewed commitment to the conflict.
Defiant hero
Nigel IskanderMum Vikki says her son’s have been heavily criticised for defending Ukraine[/caption]
Vikki says it’s right that Europe now steps up its efforts to help the war-torn nation as Prime Minister Keir Starmer increases defence spending and commits to potentially putting UK boots on the ground.
Vikki, 51, of Nuneaton, Warwickshire, said: “Initially watching the way Donald Trump and his deputy JD Vance bully President Zelensky, I just filled up with tears.
“It was abhorrent the way they goaded and gaslighted a man whose country is on its knees and its army is the only thing that stands between Russia and the rest of Europe.
“Now I’ve had some time to digest what happened, that interview highlighted to the rest of Europe how serious the situation is and how we need to be doing more.”
Secret mission
Vikki’s son Sam was studying psychology at Birmingham University when Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago – travelling to the war zone without telling a soul.
He had previously worked as a butcher after leaving school and in 2017 won an apprenticeship of the year award, which was presented to him by Princess Anne.
Vikki said: “Sam was very much his own person. From early on he was quite a defiant, opinionated human being who just wanted to help others.
Sam died a hero – his comrades carried his body
Mum Vikki Downes
“While at university, Sam decided he was going to Africa to do some aid work and had completed all the paperwork. He was due to go two weeks later when the war broke out in Ukraine.
“He didn’t tell anyone he was going – he just went and then let us know when he was there.”
Sam initially joined a Canadian aid organisation which delivered food, clothing and medicine to Ukrainians before eventually joining a crack volunteer unit called the Dark Angels, set up by ex Brit paratrooper Daniel Burke.
Burke, 36, of Manchester was ‘unlawfully’ shot dead by another soldier in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine in August 2023.
After serving with Burke’s brigade, Sam joined the Ukraine military intelligence unit and worked with drones before joining soldiers on the frontline where he was killed during a daring raid near Bakhmut in the Oblast region in September 2023.
His unit stormed a Russian-held trench, gaining back land and saving five Ukrainians being held hostage.
He was posthumously awarded a commendation for courage and the order of courage from President Zelensky.
Vikki takes comfort in the fact Sam’s comrades carried his bloodied body five kilometers back to base camp.
Prisoner rescue
Nigel IskanderDaniel Newey fought in Ukraine after battling ISIS[/caption]
Sam with a Ukranian comradeSupplied
She said: “I got the report from Ukraine into Sam’s death and, as difficult as reading it was, he wouldn’t have felt anything and his death would have been instantaneous.
“The injuries he sustained weren’t survivable. The most touching thing for me, as a mother, is not only that Sam died a hero, helping rescue 12 prisoners, but his unit carried him back to his base. They didn’t leave him behind.”
Sam’s brother Daniel followed his little brother out to Ukraine “because he felt he needed to look after him” says Vikki.
It wasn’t the first time Daniel, an ex Para, had gone into combat in another country.
He joined British-backed Kurdish fighters against ISIS between late 2017 and 2018.
Timeline to terror
The Ukraine war has its roots in the country’s will to break away from Russia
Here’s how the seeds of conflict were sown years before Putin’s invasion.
1991: Ukraine declares independence from Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union..
2004: Pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovich is declared president but there’s a run-run of the elections following protests. Pro-Western Prime Minister Viktor Yuschchenko is installed.
2008: NATO promises Ukraine it will one day join the alliance.
2013: Yanukovich’s government suspends trade talks with the EU and turns back towards Moscow, triggering months of mass rallies in Kyiv.
February 2014: Parliament votes to remove Yanukovich after bloodshed protests.
Within days, armed men seize parliament in the Ukrainian region of Crimea and raise the Russian flag. Moscow later annexes the territory. Days later, Moscow annexes Crimea.
April 2014: Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region of Donbas declare independence. Some 15,000 people have been killed since 2014 in fighting between the separatists and the Ukrainian army, according to the Kyiv government.
2017: Ukraine grows closer to the EU and free trading begins – as well as visa-free travel to Britain.
2019: Former comic Volodymyr Zelensky is elected president of Ukraine.
2021: Zelensky asks ex US President Joe Biden if Ukraine and can join NATO.
Spring 2021: Russia begins massing troops near Ukraine’s borders with more than 100,000 men.
December 2021: Russia demands Europe bars Ukraine from joining NATO amid security fears for the country.
Feb. 22: Western allies sanction Russian parliament members, banks and other assets. Germany halts the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
Feb. 23: Russian-backed separatist leaders ask Russia for help repelling aggression from the Ukrainian army.
Feb. 24: Putin authorizes “special military operations” in Ukraine. Russian forces begin missile and artillery attacks, striking major Ukrainian cities including Kiev.
Daniel originally fought Isis with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) which the UK’s ally Turkey regarded as a terrorist organisation.
As a result Daniel was charged with terrorism charges in 2020 and brother Sam and dad Paul were charged with assisting him by sending him cash.
Charges against all three were later dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service amid allegations the Government took action against the men after caving in to diplomatic pressure from Turkey.
Daniel later said he joined the battle against ISIS after watching the hurt caused by the Manchester arena bombing in which killed 22 mostly young people, who were enjoying a night out at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
He said: “Being labelled a terrorist made me feel sick to my stomach and it made me feel very disappointed in my country.”
Vikki, pictured with mum Stella, made an emotional trip to the BalkansSupplied
SuppliedSam with mum Vikki as a child[/caption]
In April last year, Vikki made an emotional pilgrimage to Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine to meet some of Sam’s friends.
She said: “I heard so many stories about Sam and saw how much they loved and missed him.
“When I got there everything made sense. I got why Sam wanted to fight for this country.
“Kharkiv has patriot missiles to protect the city and there were so many people in military uniform.
“People try their best to get on with normal life but there are signs of war everywhere, destroyed buildings and missiles flying.
“As a parent I’ve raised my boys to stand up for others and to stand by their convictions.
“I miss Sam every day. It’s like there’s a big hole inside me but I am exceptionally proud of him and Daniel.
“The more I spoke to people in Ukraine the more I realised that I was the mother of an exceptionally brave man.”
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