Four foreign volunteer soldiers, including a Frenchman, were killed fighting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, the official body for foreign volunteer fighters, announced on Saturday. The Legion cited the names of a Dutchman, an Australian, a German and a Frenchman without specifying the date or the circumstances of their death.
“We have lost our brothers in battle but their bravery, their memory and their legacy will inspire us forever,” the Legion wrote in a statement posted on its Facebook page displaying four national flags and posting photos of the men showing them in full uniform. camouflage and carrying small arms.
AFP journalists in Kharkiv attended the Dutchman’s funeral on May 21. His colleagues said during the ceremony that he had been killed several days earlier by artillery.
The Australian was believed to have been killed in May and his death was confirmed by a Foreign Office spokesman. Tasmania’s Mercury newspaper identified him as 47. According to a tribute on Facebook, he was “driving wounded from the front line”.
20,000 applications for the legion
The Legion says on its website that citizens of countries including Denmark, Israel, Poland, Latvia, Croatia, the UK, the Netherlands and Canada have joined their ranks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the formation of this force at the start of the war and the Ukrainian authorities soon following said they had received around 20,000 applications.
