Edgars Platonovs, a 41-year-old Latvian volunteer soldier fighting for Ukraine, was killed in action in December on the eastern front, the Latvian Armed Forces reported on Jan. 10.
Platonovs was fighting in the areas near the village of Novoiehorivka in the largely Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast as part of the Ukrainian military's International Legion, composed of mostly foreign volunteers, according to the Latvian Armed Forces. The military said that the volunteer was killed on Dec. 25, 2024.
Platonovs' death is among the huge costs that Ukraine and those helping the country have had to pay to fend off the relentless Russian offensives since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Many foreign fighters – like Platonovs – were killed and wounded in Ukraine, but Kyiv has not disclosed the casualty figures.
"Another of our volunteer soldiers has died defending the freedom and independence of Ukraine. Our deepest condolences to the relatives and comrades of Edgars Platonovs," Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on social media platform X, adding: "Eternal memory to the hero!"
Unlike many other foreign volunteers, Platonovs had not served in the Latvian Armed Forces before arriving in Ukraine. His family praised him as a "loving son, our older, strong and caring brother, who always did everything with all his heart and conviction," as cited by Delfi news website.
"Edgars was a kind, sincere and always positive person who never lost faith in himself and his principles," his family said, according to Delfi.
Earlier in October 2023, a Russian drone attack had killed another Lithuanian – 28-year-old Vitalijs Smirnovs – in the Lyman area of Donetsk Oblast.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
