American citizen Willie Joseph Kansel was killed this week while fighting alongside the Ukrainian armed forces defending Ukraine from Russian occupiers.

This was reported to CNN by members of his family.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a 22-year-old man turned to a private military recruiting company that recruited volunteers. The former US Marine quit his job as a corrections officer in Tennessee and traveled to Ukraine.

“He believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be part of this confrontation, to keep this evil from coming here and so that perhaps our American soldiers would not have to participate in this,” the mother of the deceased said. American.

She also said that her son’s body was not found on the battlefield, but she would like to return it and bury it.

A State Department spokesman confirmed that the government is aware of the situation and is closely monitoring it.

“Due to privacy concerns, we have no further comment. We re-emphasize that U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to active armed conflict and should leave immediately using any commercial or other private land vehicles,” an unnamed State Department official said.

Recall that after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced the creation of the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine and called on foreigners to join the fight against Russian invaders.

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