In late July, a 40-year-old American man who had gone to fight in Ukraine was killed by a mortar shell. Shortly before his death, he had promised his adoptive father to provide him with details of a mission that seemed challenging.
According to the British Daily Mail, an American engaged in the war in Ukraine made a promise to his adoptive father to explain the details of a seemingly difficult task he was supposed to accomplish before his death. On July 31st, 48-year-old Jeff Jones was killed by an explosive mortar shell in Bakhmut (also known as Artemivsk in Russian), in the Donetsk region, a city primarily occupied by Russians.
Shortly before, he had messaged his adoptive father that he had volunteered for a task that everyone else was afraid to do. “I sent him a message, and I never got a response. Less than four hours later, I got a call from someone he had befriended saying that he had been killed in combat,” he recounted.
Four days later, the United States Embassy contacted him, informing him that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense had confirmed Jeff’s death. In late May, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu estimated the number of mercenaries fighting for Kiev at 2,500. In July, he estimated that Kiev had lost over 20,000 soldiers during the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
