a U.S. citizen in UkraineUS State Department A spokesman confirmed to CBS News on Friday. Newsweek first reported an update on the death of an American national in the war, citing a Russian official who said online that an American volunteer had died while fighting alongside Ukrainian troops.
The U.S. official told CBS News that out of respect for the privacy of the family, they could not provide any further information about the deceased.
Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of Russia’s Far East Primorsky Krai, thousands of miles from the fighting in Ukraine, said members of the “Tiger” military unit in his region were killed in a battle this American.
“American mercenaries have been destroyed in Ukraine,” Kozhemiako posted on his Telegram messaging app channel on Friday. The post was accompanied by photos of U.S. passports and Ukrainian government-issued IDs to identify alleged U.S. casualties.
Koremiako claimed the man, whose identity has not been confirmed by family members or U.S. officials, was killed “in the first confrontation since his arrival at the front.”
The Russian politician claimed that the American was killed when a group of “well-trained mercenaries from different countries” tried to enter the Russian position, but “the attack was repelled and the position was defended”.
He did not say where or when the fighting took place.
In the six months since Russia launched its war on Ukraine, several American volunteers, mostly former U.S. service members, have been killed in the fighting.
The families of Luke Lucyszyn and Bryan Young in late July Confirmed to CBS News that the men were killed fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The still-unidentified man who was confirmed dead on Friday was at least the seventh Americans have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
