American killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in Ukraine
By Ellie Kaufman and Clarissa Ward, CNN
Updated 0307 GMT (1107 HKT) April 29, 2022
An American citizen, Willy Joseph Cancel, was killed fighting alongside Ukraini
an forces in Ukraine, members of Cancel's family confirmed to CNN.
The 22-year-old was working with a private military contracting company when he
was killed on Monday. The company had sent him to Ukraine, and he was being pai
d while he was fighting there, Cancel's mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.
Cancel, a former US Marine, according to his mother, signed up to work for the p
rivate military contracting company on top of his full-time job as a corrections
officer in Tennessee shortly before the war in Ukraine broke out at the end of
February, Cabrera said. When the war began, the company, according to Cabrera, w
as searching for contractors to fight in Ukraine and Cancel agreed to go, Cabrer
a said.
"He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and
he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn't come here, and tha
t maybe our American soldiers wouldn't have to be involved in it," Cabrera told
CNN in a phone interview.
Cancel flew to Poland on March 12 and crossed into Ukraine sometime over March 1
2 and 13, Cabrera said.
The group of men Cancel was fighting alongside were from "all different countrie
s," Cabrera said.
Cabrera was told by those who notified her of her son's death that his body had
not been found.
"They haven't found his body," she said. "They are trying, the men that were wit
h him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him
to come back to us."
A State Department official said they are "aware of these reports and are closel
y monitoring the situation."
"Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment," the official added.
"We once again reiterate US citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the ac
tive armed conflict and the singling out of US citizens in Ukraine by Russian go
vernment security officials, and that US citizens in Ukraine should depart immed
iately if it is safe to do so, using any commercial or other privately available
ground transportation options."
Cancel leaves behind a 7-month-old baby and a wife, Cabrera said. Cancel was liv
ing in Tennessee before he left for Ukraine, and is originally from Orange Count
y, New York, said Devin Tietze Jr., Cancel's brother-in-law.
Cabrera said Cancel "always put everybody ahead of himself."
"He was just a really thoughtful person. He always put everybody ahead of himsel
f even when situations were so stressful," Cabrera said of her son. "He always k
ept everybody laughing and calm. He was the man that stood up when everybody els
e stood back."
Tietze said Cancel was the "type to fight for what's right regardless of the out
come," when asked why Cancel had decided to join the fight in Ukraine.
"He believed wholeheartedly this shouldn't have happened and he wanted to go hel
p the people in Ukraine," Tietze said in a phone interview.
Cabrera said Cancel "wanted" to do the military contract work.
"It was something that he believed in his heart, that was the right thing. He wa
s the type of man who always stepped up when everybody else stepped back, and th
ere were a lot of men who were like that that were with him," Cabrera said.
Earlier on Thursday the British government confirmed a UK citizen had been kille
d in Ukraine and said officials are "urgently seeking further information" on an
other who is missing, a UK Foreign Office spokesperson told CNN.
"We can confirm that a British national has been killed in Ukraine and are suppo
rting their family," they said.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry created a special unit, the International Legio
n, for foreign fighters who wanted to join the fight against Russia. More than 2
0,000 volunteers and veterans from 52 countries had expressed their desire to jo
in the fight as of March 7, according to Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, commander of
the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry, which will run this legion.
CNN previously reported on foreign nationals, including citizens from the US a
nd the UK, who had left home to join the fight in Ukraine.
CNN's Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/28/politics/american-killed-ukraine/index.html
一名22岁美国公民前海陆军事承包商雇员
Willy Joseph Cancel
在星期一在乌克兰被杀
开战时承包商在找雇用前往参与战斗 Cancel同意这份工作
3/12飞抵波兰 3/13进入乌克兰
目前该员尸体尚未被寻回
国务院因个人隐私不做评论 并且再次呼吁公民不应前往乌克兰参与冲突 当地美国公民应尽
速离开
在周四英政府才证实有一名英公民在乌被杀
且正在搜索另外一名失踪公民
乌克兰国际军团有来自52国超过2万名退伍军人参与并由乌克兰军情官员指挥
中间一大段是家人在讲生前他人有多好
我就不翻了