The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has confirmed that an Australian citizen has been killed in action in Ukraine.
According to ABC, a man named Sage O’Donnell from the southeastern state of Victoria was reportedly murdered in the days leading up to Christmas.
O’Donnell’s mother released a statement through DFAT saying her son “died in action defending the freedom of the Ukrainian people.”
Sage acted because he felt sorry for the Ukrainian people and the injustice they were experiencing. She explained that he was blown away by the warmth and generosity of his new neighbours in Ukraine.
DFAT stated it was “providing consular assistance to the family” but did not specify where in the war-torn country O’Donnell was slain. O’Donnell is at least the fourth Australian to have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February.
Thousands of volunteers from throughout the globe have flocked to Ukraine over the past ten months to oppose what they see as Russia’s unwarranted invasion of the country.
In June, the Russian defence ministry reported that 1,956 “foreign mercenaries” had been killed in action since the conflict broke out in February. Nearly 7,000 foreign fighters, according to Moscow at the time, had entered Ukraine to take part in the battle, with over 1,700 subsequently leaving.
In the same month, a court in the Russian-annexed separatist state of Donetsk People’s Republic handed death sentences to three foreign fighters. There were three men total; two Brits and a Moroccan. The United Nations have severely criticised the death penalty.