an American, killed in Bakhmout, buried in Ukraine in accordance with his last wishes

These are daily images in Ukraine, where the war has been going on for more than 14 months now: the funerals of soldiers follow one another in Kiev, while the fighting kills hundreds of soldiers every day. Except that these funerals have a particularity: in the coffin is Christopher Campbell, an American. A first since the beginning of the conflict.

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“It was his last wish, and it was our duty to respect it”says Iva Savina, his fiancée, straight in her traditional Ukrainian costume, facing the priest and the gathered soldiers. “He wanted me to watch over him”, she says. Former American soldier engaged in Iraq, Christopher Campbell had arrived in Ukraine at the start of the Russian invasion, to serve in the international legion of the kyiv army. He was killed on April 6 in the deadly battle of Bakhmout. “He had become a Ukrainian among Ukrainians”assures his fiancée.

“He wanted to show that it’s not just Ukrainians who are fighting here, but the whole world is with us.”

Iva Savina, fiancee of Christopher Campbell

at franceinfo

“Glory to the hero!”

In the church, it is not the American anthem that resounds, but that of Ukraine. The soldier’s family could not come to kyiv. Too dangerous a move, according to the US government. “The last time I saw him was two days before he died in Kharkiv. We only had one day and one night together. I asked him about what he was going through there and that’s the only time i asked her to stay with merecalls his side Iva Savina. I felt he had changed a lot, like all the men there. The horrors he faces are terrifying.”

Gleb Tischenko is one of the first to have welcomed Christopher Campbell in Ukraine in his organization of assistance to the soldiers. And for him, the Ukrainian formula ‘glory to the hero!’ is not overused regarding her friend. “He is my hero because he was 27 years old and had his life ahead of him to study, find a good job that would earn him a good living, have a family, a dog or a cat. And he decided to come here to help us, to defend democracy and Ukrainians”he greets.

At the start of this war, the Ukrainian army claimed that 20,000 foreign soldiers had come to enlist in its ranks. Their number today is estimated at around 3,000.