Taiwanese Volunteer Soldier Killed While Fighting for Ukraine: Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry

Volunteer soldiers prepare to fire toward Russian positions close to Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on March 8, 2023. Libkos/AP Photo

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Oct. 3 that a Taiwanese volunteer soldier had been killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian troops.

The deputy spokesperson for Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hsiao Kuang-wei, told Taiwan’s state-owned Central News Agency (CNA) that the ministry was informed of the soldier’s death on Nov. 2, without disclosing his name, the date of his death, or the location where he was killed.

Hsiao said that Taiwan’s representative office in Poland had confirmed the soldier’s death with the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, a battalion composed of volunteer soldiers from other countries.

The ministry reached out to the soldier’s family to assure them it would provide the necessary assistance to facilitate the return of the soldier’s remains, according to the spokesperson.

Hsiao did not provide details about how the soldier was killed and said the soldier’s family has requested that his identity remain private.

CNA’s Focus Taiwan reported on Sunday that a Ukrainian drone managed to locate the soldier’s body, but the Ukrainian army has been unable to retrieve it due to ongoing fighting.

This is the second Taiwanese volunteer soldier to die in combat in the Russia–Ukraine war, which has been raging since February 2022.

Tseng Sheng-kuang, 25, was the first Taiwanese soldier killed in the fighting in November of last year.

Foreign soldiers volunteered to fight for Ukraine after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed in February 2022 for foreign nationals who are “friends of Ukraine, peace and democracy” to travel to the country and join his army.

“Anyone who wants to join the defense of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Feb. 27, 2022.

Zelenskyy cited Ukraine’s 2016 decree, which allows foreigners to join the Ukrainian military, while announcing the formation of the International Legion.

Earlier this year, Zelenskyy signed a decree allowing foreigners and stateless persons to voluntarily join the National Guard of Ukraine, provided they have no criminal record and meet the requirements for military service. The decree states that foreigners are permitted to serve under contracts as private members and non-commissioned officers.

Damien Magrou, spokesperson for the International Legion, said in June 2022 that citizens from 55 countries, including Brazil, South Korea, and Australia, have volunteered to join the battalion. He did not specify the total number of foreign citizens serving in the military unit.