Overview
- The Telegraph is reported to hold footage from a 2015 trip to occupied eastern Ukraine showing Dempsey with a Communist Party flag during pro‑Russia chanting.
- The Independent reports images of Dempsey posing by a Lenin statue and wearing a Novorossiya emblem, alongside a group holding a communist party banner.
- An RMT spokesperson says the trip followed the 2014 Odesa tragedy and asserts Dempsey has called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict rather than backing the invasion.
- The footage shows Dempsey filming separatist leader Aleksey Mozgovoy delivering anti‑Ukrainian government remarks; Mozgovoy died two weeks after the visit.
- Conservative figures, including shadow transport secretary Richard Holden, issued condemnations, as coverage highlights the RMT’s 2025 motion urging the UK to halt military aid to Ukraine.