Willie Joseph Kansel, a 22-year-old American man, was killed Monday in a fight with the Russian military alongside Ukrainian forces, according to relatives. Kansel, who previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked for a private security company. When he heard about the war in Ukraine, he was determined to join the fighting forces and prevent the Russian invasion | His body is still being held by the Russians
Over two months after the war began in Ukraine, a first American citizen was killed by Russian fire. Willie Joseph Kensel, a soldier in the former Marine Corps, volunteered to fight alongside the Ukrainians and was killed last weekend as part of an operation by a private security company.
The 22-year-old Kansel was killed Monday, leaving behind a 7-month-old woman and baby. His mother told CNN that “he wanted to travel to Ukraine following the belief in what they were fighting for, he wanted to be a part of it.” She added that her son’s body had not yet been found and was apparently being held by the Russians
“He wanted to get there because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be part of that effort so that what was happening there would not get here either and they would not have to send American military forces,” his mother told CNN. He flew to Poland on March 12 and apparently crossed into Ukraine that day.
His wife Brittany told Fox News he “went there because he wanted to help people, he wanted to be a cop or a firefighter in New York. And when he heard about what happened in Ukraine he was determined to volunteer.” President Biden also referred to the case and said “this is a very sad case, he left behind a little baby”.