Media outlets confirmed the second American national died acting as a mercenary in the Ukraine army. The combatant Stephen Zabielski,52, died during the fighting in mid-May after he went to Europe.
US Mercenary Dies in Ukraine
US media says the US national met his death while on a mine-clearing mission and triggered one of the explosives. Zabielski was killed while two of his squad mates were badly hurt, said a source, reported RT.
The casualty of war got killed on May 15 while engaging the Russians in the Village of Dorozhniank, according to an obituary notice published in The Recorder this month. Rolling Stone magazine said he died in southeast Ukraine.
US Department of State officials verified the report of Rolling Stone and another major daily but kept details private for the privacy of the next of kin.
The US national lived in New York and went to Florida in 2018; is the second US citizen identified who died in Ukraine.
Rolling Stone report is based on an interview with Tristan Nettles, a Marine Corps combat vet with Zabielski when he was killed.
How it happened
The men were members of the Wolverines squad with 13 soldiers in all, which is attached to a Ukrainian Army unit and comprised of English-speaking fighters with actual combat experience.
Before a planned assault by the Ukrainian army on Russian and allied forces, this unit was marking landmines. Another US mercenary triggered a mine while checking in the bushes, which led to the fatality.
A landmine close to the Second American national killed him and the blast and blew off the lower legs of the one who tripped the wire. An attempt to get them out in the vehicle only blasted it with another mine; the driver got burned badly.
Nettles said the two survived the blast, the one with the Zabielski got airlifted to the US, and the Canadian driver is still in Ukraine but cannot walk.
Badly Equipped International Legion
Zelensky's false propaganda allegedly duped as many as 20,000; the Russian Ministry of Defense called the Ukrainian leader spreading misleading facts.
Members of the Wolverines were a Pole, a Canadian, two Britons, with eight Americans. Nettles, the survivor, told Rolling Stone; that the squad's experience fighting for Ukraine was terrible and added they were told lies from the start.
He added that there were only three of the initial thirteen members when everything settled down. In one firefight that lasted two hours with a Ukrainian special forces unit, it was bad what happened to anyone fighting for Kyiv.
As for Zabielski, the survivor remarked that a veteran at his age is normal, with many fifty-ish men fighting on the frontline.
Another American identified as former US Marine Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, had died in April fighting a superior Russian force. The Russian army was more well-equipped and armed, while mercenaries had little equipment.
Moscow says there are 530 US citizens in Ukraine, with 214 KIA and 227 leaving Ukraine last Friday. They are not POWS, and the Geneva Convention does not apply.
As verified by several media sources, Stephen Zabielski is the second American national marked as killed in action (KIA) serving as a mercenary in the Ukraine army.
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