The Pentagon urged Americans on Friday (29) not to travel to Ukraine after the death of a US citizen. US who traveled to Eastern Europe to fight against Russian troops.
22yearold Willy Joseph Cancel, who was apparently murdered Monday, arrived in Ukraine in midMarch, his mother Rebecca Cabrera said in an interview with CNN.
“We continue to urge Americans not to travel to Ukraine,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN, calling the news “devastating” and offering his support to the family of the deceased.
“This is an ongoing war zone, […] It’s not a place Americans should go,” he reiterated.
Rebecca Crabera said her son “wanted to go there because he believed in the cause that Ukraine is fighting for and wanted to be a part of it, to contain it [a ameaça] there and don’t let it come here”.
According to the American press, Cancel leaves behind a wife and a 7monthold son. Brittany confirmed her husband’s death in a statement to media outlets, in which she highlighted Willy Cancel’s “worth” and called him a “hero.”
Cancel was a former Marine who joined a private paramilitary company and voluntarily traveled to Ukraine.
A British national has also died in Ukraine and another is missing, a British Foreign Office spokesman confirmed on Thursday.
Both men fought as volunteers with the Ukrainian army, according to British media.
shortly after Russia invaded UkraineOn February 24, President Volodmyr Zelenskyy called for the formation of an “international legion” of foreign volunteers to help defend Ukraine.
In early March, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba mentioned the number of 20,000 foreign volunteers who had joined forces with his country to fight in the war.