A Swedish national fighting on the side of the Ukrainian army was killed in action last week, the country's SVT broadcaster 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, Russian troops are currently fighting to push the Ukrainian army out of Russia’s 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” are 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 Bryansk Region.
In December 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that more than 5,800 foreigners fighting for Kiev had been killed in almost two years of the conflict.
In February 2024, the military news website Task and Purpose reported that at least 50 Americans had been killed in Ukraine, most of them while fighting for Kiev’s troops.