The U.S. State Department confirmed the death of Stephen Zabielski, the second American to have died in Ukraine. Others have reportedly been captured.
Stephen Zabielski has become the latest American citizen confirmed killed in the Ukraine war as the focus grows on foreigners volunteering to take up arms against Russian aggression. Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky made an appeal in February for people to join an «international legion» to fight against Russia, but the deaths of American combatants and the capture of other U.S. citizens highlight the risks they face. Last week, President Joe Biden said «Americans should not be going to Ukraine now» as U.S. officials try to discourage its citizens from joining the war, citing the safety risks and a limited ability to assist if things go wrong. However, Macer Gifford, a Briton who has facilitated westerners going to Ukraine to help its forces, has said that Americans keen to fight in Ukraine are unlikely to be deterred by the dangers.
«At the end of the day, if you’re afraid of dying, you have no business being in Ukraine», he told Newsweek with «absolutely atrocious» casualty rates of up to 50 percent. After helping with the training of Ukraine’s military and speaking to those who have returned from the front line, Gifford said «death is very much part of life.»
«If you have the privilege of being an American man, wherever you come from a safe, peaceful democratic country, and you choose to go and join the Ukrainian military to fight, it becomes pretty apparent pretty damn quickly how terrible the conditions are there», he told Newsweek.
«If you’re afraid of that situation, or if you have any doubts in your mind, you will simply just pack up your bag to leave those that stay and continue fighting.»
The U.S. State Department has said it is investigating reports of the capture by Russian forces of U.S. veterans. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested this week the soldiers could get the same death sentences handed to the captured Britons Aiden Aslin (aged 28) and Shaun Pinner (aged 48), by a court in the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).
