Omagh man who defused bombs in Ukraine receives ‘hate abuse’

A Omagh man who spent a year as a volunteer clearing mines in war-torn Ukraine has recently been subjected to a spate of ‘extremely hateful’ online messages.

Jonathan Baynard, pictured, who spent 12 months defusing and disarming explosives in the besieged European nation, has been told, “If you ever go back to Ukraine, I hope you are killed”.

A few months ago, Jonathan was forced to leave Ukraine after the funds fuelling his charity’s operations dried up. However, since exiting the war-ravaged nation, Jonathan has remained in close contact with the conflict, keeping in touch with connections inside the country, and posting in online forums concerned with the war. Speaking with the UH earlier this week, Jonathan explained how supporters and sympathisers of the Russian regime have used these forums to send him messages expressing a desire to see him killed.

“Personally,” Jonathan said, “I have spent too long fiddling with bombs and being shot at to be scared by threats or ill-wishes, but I am annoyed by the hypocrisy of the people who sent me these messages.

“These people have composed these garbage messages about the war being started by America and NATO, all awhile sitting in the safety of their NATO-protected European homes.”

After receiving the messages, Jonathan reported the accounts – which appeared to be authentic, undisguised profiles – to Facebook.

“They were blocked and I am not sure what happened to them after that.”

Jonathan said that confusion and hate inherent in the messages he received was what prompted him to come to this paper.

“There is a lot of disinformation out there which has been designed and disseminated to persuade people that some of the basic truths of this war should be second-guessed.”

Jonathan continued, “Look, the United Nations (UN) said it themselves, when Russia invaded on February 24, 2022, they done so in clear breach of the UN Charter, so to say that America has started this or that NATO has been egging Russia on is ridiculous.

“There is only one invader in this war and if they left, the war would end right away.”