The family of a British aid worker reportedly killed in a Russian drone strike while volunteering in Ukraine has been left in “red tape limbo”, an NGO has said.
Annie Lewis Marffy, 69, travelled from her home in Silverton, near Exeter, Devon, in late May to deliver a green Toyota Rav4 packed with supplies.
She arrived in Ukraine on June 4 but did not meet co-ordinators from Aid Ukraine UK, the non-profit NGO which had organised the mission, as planned.
After a week of searching for Ms Lewis Marffy, the organisation was contacted by the Kramatorsk district police department with information that she had been killed.
The police report says that she sustained “injuries incompatible with life” after a Russian drone strike between June 11 and 12, having parked the Rav4 on a street in the contested Donbas region.
It adds that her body “remains in an area of active hostilities, making it impossible to conduct evacuation measures to transfer the body to the forensic medical examination department”.
Her family have asked for a death certificate to be issued, based on the Kramatorsk district police department report, either through local authorities or the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
They say this will allow them to grieve properly and begin the probate process.
Katarzyna Bylok, founder of Aid Ukraine, told the PA news agency that this process could take months or years because of the lack of Ms Lewis Marffy’s remains.
“In a kill zone, where her remains are, it is impossible to recover them because whoever you send will also die,” she said.
Ms Bylok said there was an expedited process within Ukraine to certify deaths where remains cannot be recovered, though this still takes six to 12 months.
“It leaves her family in a horrible red tape limbo,” she added.
“They will never get her body. But what they need is the ability to close her affairs. Her sons have their hands tied, they don’t have power of attorney.
“There is enough evidence to prove that Annie is dead.
“The procedures stating that you need to have remains or DNA for a death certificate need to be updated.”
Ms Lewis Marffy travelled through Europe with a former soldier from Wales, who had to return to the UK after becoming unwell in Poland.
She was instructed to hand the vehicle over to Aid Ukraine teams in Lviv but did not do so, instead insisting she would continue to Kramatorsk, where the vehicle was due to be delivered, alone.
After that, she was in sporadic contact with co-ordinators from the organisation and ignored advice to avoid frontline areas, leading them on a “wild goose chase” for the next week.
Ms Bylok posted a picture of Ms Lewis Marffy on Telegraph, asking for information about her location, and was contacted by police who said she had been killed.
“She was very independent and when she turned her mind to do something, she did it,” she told PA.
“She was very self assured and highly intelligent.”
Ms Lewis Marffy’s son, Charlie Lewis Marffy, told the BBC that the family were not looking to blame anyone for what happened.
He said his mother was in regular contact with the family until June 8, when communication stopped.
“She was brave, capable and determined, but we never wanted her to go,” Mr Lewis Marffy added.
“She was excited, happy to be doing something meaningful.”
He said the family had asked the FCDO and Ukrainian authorities for a death certificate to be issued, based on the police report, and had been left “dismayed”.
Paying tribute to his mother, he described her as “amazing, witty, kind, intelligent, adventurous”.
“She was irreplaceable,” Mr Lewis Marffy told the BBC.
“I feel very sad that she’s not here any more but I’m very proud of who she was.”
A spokesperson for the FCDO said: “We are supporting the family of a British woman who is missing in Ukraine and are in contact with the local authorities.”
