US confirms American volunteer fighter killed while fighting alongside Ukraine's military

The United States Department of State confirmed the death of a US "volunteer fighter" in war-torn Ukraine amid the ongoing Russian invasion. On Friday, August 26, a US State Department spokesperson told Newsweek, “We can confirm the death of a US citizen in Ukraine” and also added, “Out of respect for the privacy of the family, we have no further comment at this time.” Meanwhile, a Russian official claimed that an American who had been volunteering to defend Ukraine was killed by Russian forces. 

Primorsky Krai's governor, Oleg Kozhemyako, said on his Telegram channel that members of the Primorsky "Tiger" Detachment had killed a 24-year-old American soldier in battle and produced his US passport and a Ukrainian military card as proof. According to the documents provided by Kozhemyako, the individual was born in Tennessee and joined the Ukrainian military on July 24 with the A344 military unit.  

American mercenary killed by Russian forces in Ukraine

Kozhemyako wrote in the post, “An American mercenary has been destroyed in Ukraine. And this is in the first clash literally immediately after arriving at the front line!" According to him, the "Tiger" volunteers were approached by a group of trained foreign mercenaries fighting for the Ukrainian military. Indicating the fight, he said that the Russian volunteers "did not flinch and repulsed the attack," Newsweek reported. However, the local governor made no mention of the time or location in Ukraine where the American was reportedly killed. 

It is to mention that at least six Americans have died so far while battling Russia in Ukraine. Besides this, in the month of July, American citizens Luke Lucyszyn and Bryan Young lost their lives together with two Canadians and two Swedes while volunteering to fight in Ukraine against Russian soldiers. They were slain on July 18 when a Russian tank ambushed them, according to their Ukrainian commander Ruslan Miroshnichenko, who posted the news on Facebook. 

Additionally, two more Americans were killed while fighting in Ukraine were 22-year-old Willy Joseph Cancel, who died in combat in April, and Stephen Zabielski, 52, who was slain in May in the town of Dorozhnyanka in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.  

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Russian military said that it had attacked a military train near Chaplyne that was transporting Ukrainian soldiers and military hardware to the front line in the Donbas. In a statement, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed that Chaplyne was hit by an Iskander missile and that over 200 reserve members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and "10 units of military equipment were destroyed on their way to the combat zone" in the eastern Donbas region, which includes the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, according to the Associated Press report. 

(Image: AP)