New evidence shows New Zealand volunteer Andrew Bagshaw was shot, not shelled, in Ukraine

Andrew Bagshaw, a 47-year-old New Zealand genetic scientist who helped evacuate over 500 civilians in Ukraine, was killed on 6 January 2023 while attempting to rescue an elderly woman in the besieged town of Soledar. A new podcast episode reveals that a Wagner mercenary used Bagshaw's phone two days after he vanished, changing the account name to “Joker” and displaying a death symbol. Photographs from the Wagner Telegram channel show both Bagshaw's and Christopher Parry's passports together, suggesting the bodies were handled by a medical-type facility.

When the bodies were exchanged with Kyiv, they arrived in silk-lined coffins, washed, and dressed in black suits with crucifixes, rather than in standard body bags. Autopsy performed by Inna Padiei identified gunshot wounds, contradicting the earlier claim that an artillery shell caused the death—a claim communicated to Bagshaw's parents before the autopsy results were released. The findings imply possible deliberate shaping of the narrative surrounding the deaths.