The Swedish national had served near Kiev and in the Donbass
A Swedish national fighting on the side of the Ukrainian army was killed in action last week, the Swedish broadcaster SVT reported on Wednesday.
According to the TV channel, the man was “an experienced soldier” who traveled to Ukraine in 2022. He reportedly served near Kiev, as well as near the Donbass city of Artyomovsk (known in Ukraine as Bakhmut) and “in Russia.”
Although SVT did not specify where the man was killed, the Russian troops are currently fighting to push the Ukrainian army out of Russia’s internationally recognized territory in the Kursk Region, which Kiev’s forces invaded in early August.
The channel cited the Swedish Foreign Ministry as saying that eight Swedish nationals have been killed in Ukraine since February 2022, after Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring state.
Moscow has repeatedly said that foreign “mercenaries” were fighting alongside Ukraine’s regular army and participating in cross-border raids. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday that US, Canadian and Polish citizens were recently killed during a failed incursion attempt in the Bryansk Region.
In December 2023, Russian then-Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu claimed that more than 5,800 foreigners fighting for Kiev were killed in about two years of the conflict.
In February 2024, the military news website Task & Purpose reported that at least 50 Americans have been killed in Ukraine, most of them while fighting for Kiev’s troops.
