The German volunteer who, according to Ukrainian sources, was killed in battles against Russian troops on Saturday is said to be a 39-year-old from Brandenburg. This is reported by the “Bild am Sonntag” (BamS).

According to the newspaper, a comrade of Björn C. said: “We were stationed in the east of Kharkiv.” The fighter, also a European volunteer, said: “On May 31, we moved into our observation post there. I had the first shift, took a break, then it was Björn’s turn.”

Russian drones have been circling over the village throughout the day. “We could hear the buzzing overhead, it’s a horrible sound because you know what’s going to follow.”

In the afternoon, the Russian artillery shells had hit quite indiscriminately, but then they had systematically worked their way forward, the comrade reported. “Around 6:30 p.m., an artillery shell hit the house where our post was.” Björn C. was seriously injured by shrapnel. With other comrades he wanted to drive him to a field hospital. “It was too late, almost two hours later he was already dead.”

Björn C. was very popular within the unit. “He was always kind to everyone, one of the best people I knew. He was big and strong, that’s why we called him Panzer,” said the BamS comrade.

Björn C. apparently wanted to go back to his native Brandenburg. “He had submitted his application that evening, the next day he would have had a few days off,” the comrade told the newspaper. “He then wanted to go home for good within the next two months, he missed his girlfriend, his child and his dog.”

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Ukraine reported the death of a German volunteer fighter in the battle against the Russian attack for the first time on Saturday. The International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine announced in Kyiv that three volunteers from France, Australia and the Netherlands were among the “fallen brothers in arms”. The names of the four men were also included in the statement, but not the time or place of their deaths.

Initially, there was no confirmation of the identity of the dead man by the German authorities. According to BamS, however, the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin said that the embassy in Kyiv was trying to clarify and was “in contact with the Ukrainian authorities who have spread the relevant news”.