U.S. confirms death of another American in Ukraine
An American citizen has been killed in Ukraine, a U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed to CBS News on Friday. Newsweek first reported the latest death of a U.S. national amid the war, citing claims by a Russian official who said online that an American volunteer was killed fighting alongside Ukraine's military.
The U.S. official told CBS News they could not provide any further information about the American who died, out of respect for the privacy of the family.
Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia's far eastern Primorsky Krai region, which is thousands of miles away from the fighting in Ukraine, said members of the "Tiger" military unit from his area had killed the American during a battle.
"American mercenary was destroyed in Ukraine," Kozhemyako said in a Friday post on his channel on the Telegram messaging app. The post was accompanied by photos of both a U.S. passport and Ukrainian state-issued ID identifying the purported American casualty.
Kozhemyako claimed the man, whose identity has not been confirmed by family members or U.S. officials, was killed "in the first clash literally immediately after arriving at the front line."
The Russian politician claimed the American man was killed when a "trained group of mercenaries from different countries" tried to move in on Russian positions, but the "attack was repulsed, the positions were defended."
He did not say where or when the fighting occurred.
During the six months since Russia launched its war on Ukraine, several American volunteers, mostly former U.S. servicemembers, have been killed in the fighting.
In late July, the families of Luke Lucyszyn and Bryan Young confirmed to CBS News that the men were killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The still-unidentified man whose death was confirmed on Friday is at least the seventh American to die in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.