UK private school crest found on Ukrainian soldier killed in Russia

The Gordonstoun coat of arms was emblazoned on the clothing of a paratrooper who died fighting Russian forces in Kursk Region.

Russian soldiers have discovered the crest of the prestigious UK school that taught Britain’s King Charles III on a Ukrainian fighter killed in Kursk Region, western Russia, RIA Novosti reported on Saturday.

Gordonstoun is a private boarding senior school in Moray, Scotland, and maintains sailing as a key element of its curriculum. It is the alma mater of both Charles and his late father Prince Philip.

The school’s coat of arms and ‘Gordonstoun Sail Training’ could be seen emblazoned on the soldier’s fleece in a video taken by Russian assault forces from the 22nd Motorized Rifle Regiment of army grouping ‘North’, and given to the news agency. Clothing marked this way is not generally available for sale except to students of the institution. The Ukrainian was part of a paratrooper unit eliminated in the settlement of Guevo in Kursk Region, according to RIA.

The border region saw a major incursion by Ukraine in August of last year, and earlier in March Russian forces began a major counteroffensive, liberating more than a dozen settlements since.

The Russian Defense Ministry gives regular reports about foreign fighters killed while serving for Ukraine in Kursk Region, and in Ukrainian attacks on neighboring border regions.

Foreign mercenaries fighting for Kiev are not protected by the Geneva Convention, and if caught committing war crimes against civilians will be treated as terrorists, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned earlier in March.

Around 6,000 foreigners have been killed fighting for Ukraine since the conflict escalated in 2022, the Russian Defense Ministry said last year.

According the ministry’s latest estimates, more than 70,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed in Kursk Region since the beginning of the incursion last August.