British combat medic found dead in Ukraine bed with murder probe ‘ongoing’

Questions have been raised on whether Katherine’s death involved foul play before she was found in her bed and a coroner has demanded to know if someone administered something without her consent

A British combat medic who served in some of Ukraine’s fiercest battles against Russia may have been murdered with a fatal overdose of drugs, it is feared.

Questions have been raised over whether Katherine Mielniczuk’s death involved foul play before she was found in her bed. And a coroner has demanded to know if someone administered something without her consent before colleagues discovered her body.

Katherine, 26, had been in Ukraine for 18 months with the humanitarian group Stay Safe UA and was attached to the 151st unit of the Special Operations Forces. After travelling to the most volatile stretches of the frontline, she was nicknamed Apache.

Police initially said they did not believe her death was suspicious, but Assistant Coroner Ivor Collett revealed cops in the war-torn city of Sloviansk have launched a murder probe.

A pre-inquest review hearing was told Katherine died of opioid intoxication but that vital evidence had not yet been passed to British authorities, the Mirror reports.

Mr Collett told South London Coroner’s Court: “We know that the police authorities in Sloviansk did initiate an investigation into Katherine’s death under their criminal code dealing with homicide. The latest is that the investigation is ongoing.”

And speaking to the solicitor representing Katherine’s family, from Westerham, Kent, he added: “Has there been foul play? Has someone administered something without Katherine’s consent? Has someone put them into her system without her being willing? What we are really concerned with is what happened while she was a combat medic in Ukraine.”

Katherine’s body was discovered by colleagues in the early hours of Christmas Eve 2023. She went to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in 2022 after feeling compelled to use her medical knowledge to help in the war.

Mr Collett told the family solicitors of the University of Bristol chemistry graduate he would write to the authorities in Sloviansk to request they provide further information.

He said he would formally request copies of relevant statements, sketches or photos of the scene of death, reports of fingerprints and other forensic evidence, and data from Katherine’s phone.

The hearing was told that her family have still not been provided with the phone she was using at the time of her death. Mr Collett said Ukrainian police had offered to show evidence from it if a representative travelled to Ukraine.

But Mr Collett said that was unreasonable considering it was a warzone. He said he would request the phone be sent to the UK, adding: “I think there is a fair chance we will be given the cold shoulder.”

A full inquest is yet to take place and may not happen this year. Katherine is not the first Briton whose death in Ukraine has been suspicious. Former Scots Guard Jordan Chadwick, 31, from Burnley, Lancs, travelled to Ukraine as a volunteer fighter in 2022. He was found dead in a body of water with his hands tied behind his back in June the following year.

Meanwhile, former Paratrooper Daniel Burke, 36, from Manchester, was shot by a comrade miles from the front line in August 2023. The shooter claimed it was an accident but that was rejected by Manchester Area Coroner Zak Golombeck at an inquest in December.

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