A 22-year-old former U.S. Marine was killed alongside Ukrainian forces within the conflict with Russia, his kinfolk advised information retailers, within the first identified loss of life of an American citizen combating in Ukraine.
Willy Joseph Cancel was killed Monday whereas working for a army contracting firm that despatched him to Ukraine, his mom, Rebecca Cabrera, advised CNN. Cancel had just lately labored as a corrections officer in Tennessee and beforehand served within the Marines from 2017 to 2021, becoming a member of the Corps the identical 12 months he graduated from highschool.
Cabrera mentioned her son had signed as much as work with the non-public army contractor shortly earlier than combating started in Ukraine on Feb. 24. She advised CNN he agreed to go to Ukraine.
“He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it,” she mentioned.
Cancel had served as a volunteer firefighter in New York and had a 7-month-old son, in keeping with a web-based fundraising web page arrange by a person figuring out himself as his father.
The U.S. authorities mentioned it had seen experiences concerning the loss of life however didn’t have official affirmation, in keeping with White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
“It’s very sad. He left a little baby behind,” President Biden mentioned.
Psaki reiterated warnings towards U.S. residents touring to Ukraine.
“We know people want to help, but we do encourage Americans to find other ways to do so rather than traveling to Ukraine to fight there,” she mentioned. “It is a war zone.”
The State Department additionally mentioned it was conscious of the experiences and was “closely monitoring the situation,” however couldn’t remark additional “due to privacy considerations.” It, too, urged U.S. residents to not go to Ukraine.
Cabrera mentioned her son’s physique has not been discovered.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”