{"id":978595,"date":"2026-05-22T22:14:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/978595\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T22:14:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T22:14:56","slug":"tributes-paid-to-young-devon-man-killed-while-fighting-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/978595\/","title":{"rendered":"Tributes paid to young Devon man killed while fighting in Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ayrton Redfearn was killed in action in the Donetsk region<\/p>\n

A family has paid tribute to a Devon lad killed in action during the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Ayrton Redfearn, 23, joined a specialist military unit with the Army of Ukraine last year and had been due to receive a bravery award for saving someone’s life when he was killed on Saturday, May 9 in the Donetsk region.<\/p>\n

His mother, sharing a tribute to Facebook, said Ayrton was “extremely happy” in Ukraine and made friends with people from around the world “all with the same mission of fighting for Ukraine”.<\/p>\n

His call sign was \u2018Musso\u2019 and Ayrton was made a team leader earlier this year, his mother shared.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office confirmed its staff are supporting the family of a British national who died in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Ayrton’s mother shared how her son attended Churston Ferrers Grammar School and joined 200 Squadron Torquay<\/a> Air Cadets at the age of 12. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force at 17, training as a Regiment Gunner and Senior Aircraftman.<\/p>\n

Sharing their own tributes to Ayrton, one of his former instructor shared on Facebook: “I was one of Ayrton\u2019s instructors when he went through basic training at RAF Honington, he was a really good lad and very funny. To his family I\u2019m very sorry for your loss. I would very much like to pay my respects at his funeral along with many of his other instructors if at all possible. RIP Ayrton”<\/p>\n

One woman commented: “Heartbreaking. Such an incredibly brave young man. What he did is extraordinary.<\/p>\n

“As a Ukrainian, I cannot put into words what people like Ayrton mean to us. He chose to stand beside Ukraine and fight for people he had never even met, fight for freedom. Because of people like him, families are still alive, children still have homes, and people still have hope.<\/p>\n

“He will be remembered with enormous respect and admiration.”<\/p>\n

Another added: “RIP. You didn’t have to go, but as someone once said \u201call it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.\u201d You will be missed and my condolences to your family, friends and comrades in arms, may you all stay safe.”<\/p>\n

“Rest in peace Ayrton,” a former classmate said. “I went to school with Ayrton – he was always such a joy to be around. What a hero. Thank you for your service.”<\/p>\n

Another said: “I’m so sorry for your loss. He was part of our family memories from primary school. RIP to a wonderful young man.”<\/p>\n

Ayrton’s mother’s statement, shared to local Facebook group Spotted Paignton<\/a>, said: “Huge tributes have come in from Ukraine from Ayrton\u2019s commander and his brothers (comrades) about his exceptional service and being an outstanding soldier, whilst remaining the clever, funny, prankster whilst off duty, always able to boost morale, and \u2018he was 100% locked in and competent when it was time to go to work\u2019.”<\/p>\n

The post continued: “His mother and younger brother are finding comfort in all the messages from Ukraine reminding them that he died a hero. Glory to the Fallen.”<\/p>\n

An FCDO spokesperson said: \u201cWe are supporting the family of a British national who has died in Ukraine, and are in contact with the Ukrainian authorities\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ayrton Redfearn was killed in action in the Donetsk region A family has paid tribute to a Devon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":978596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7654],"tags":[17542,2000,299,600,98874,116739,77611,657],"class_list":["post-978595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ukraine","tag-armed-forces","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-facebook","tag-paignton","tag-torbay","tag-torquay","tag-ukraine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116620540390369786","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/978596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}