US citizen recently died in Ukraine, State Department says

By Paul LeBlanc and Jennifer Hansler, CNN

A US citizen recently died in Ukraine, the US State Department said Monday, the latest known American to die in the country since Russia’s invasion in February.

While the State Department did not name the individual, the International Legion of the Defense of Ukraine identified Timothy Griffin as a US citizen killed during combat in Eastern Ukraine.

Griffin had “taken part in the counteroffensive on the eastern front with his unit and was killed in action,” Ukraine’s International Legion of Defense said in a statement that called Griffin “our brother in arms.”

Both the State Department and Ukraine’s International Legion said they were in touch with family of the deceased and asked the public to respect their privacy.

At least five other Americans are known to have been killed in the country fighting alongside Ukrainian forces during the ongoing conflict with Russia.

Dane Partridge, 34, was killed last month after Russian vehicles ambushed him and others who were clearing trenches in Eastern Ukraine, his sister told CNN. Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, was killed on April 25, his mother told CNN. And Stephen Zabielski died in mid-May, the State Department confirmed.

Two other Americans died in the Donbas region in July, the department said. One of them was Luke Lucyszyn, his mother told CNN.

The US has urged Americans not to travel to Ukraine at this time due to the active armed conflict and the “singling out of US citizens in Ukraine” by the Russian government.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has stated that Kyiv’s goal is to liberate all of Ukraine, including Crimea, and Ukraine’s military has repeatedly exceeded most Western expectations.

But Russia has been preparing defense lines designed to slow Ukrainian advances, and Ukraine’s counter-offensives in the east and the south are still relatively small compared to the size of the occupied areas, even though they have reclaimed thousands of square kilometers.

Senior US officials have in recent weeks been urging Ukraine to signal that it is still open to diplomatic discussions with Russia, amid concerns that public support for the country’s war effort could wane with no end to the conflict in sight and neither side willing to begin peace talks, sources familiar with the discussions told CNN on Monday.

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CNN’s Julia Kesaieva contributed to this report.