The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of Australia reported that an Australian man died while engaged in combat in Ukraine.
According to an article from ABC, Sage O’Donnell, a native of the southeast state of Victoria, is thought to have died shortly before Christmas.
The mother of a Victorian man slain in combat in Ukraine recalled her son as a freedom fighter motivated by compassion.
The death of Melbourne resident Sage O’Donnell in the war-torn nation was announced on Wednesday by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
His mother stated her son had fallen in love with Ukraine and was “humbled by the kindness and hospitality within his new community,” according to a statement made public by DFAT.
She said that her son preserved his morals while serving in the Russia-Ukraine conflict both at home and abroad. She also added that her son was motivated by “empathy for the Ukrainian people” because of the “injustice that has taken place.”
The mother of Sage, who was not identified in the statement, expressed how heartbroken her family was by the passing of Sage and how they would miss her “humour, kind heart, and laughter.”
Russia’s defence ministry reported in June that 1,956 “foreign mercenaries” had lost their lives in combat since the conflict began in February. At the time, Moscow claimed that more than 1,700 of the almost 7,000 foreign militants who had entered Ukraine to join the fighting had already left.
Three foreign combatants were given the death penalty by a court in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, a breakaway state captured by Russia, in the same month. Two British people and a Moroccan man were among the combatants. The United Nations expressed strong opposition to the death penalty.
