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TS: Turku man dies fighting in Ukraine

Local newspaper Turun Sanomat reports that the man left Finland a few months ago to join Ukraine's forces as a volunteer soldier.

Photo shows Finnish and Ukrainian flags flying side by side.
Finnish and Ukrainian flags on display during President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit in Helsinki last month. Image: Jari Kovalainen / Yle
  • Yle News

A man in his twenties from Turku has been killed while fighting as a soldier in Ukraine, the city's newspaper Turun Sanomat has reported.

According to TS's report, the man left Finland a few months ago to fight as a volunteer soldier alongside Ukrainian forces against Russia's invasion.

Finland's Ministry for Foreign Affairs confirmed to Yle that, according to its own information, a Finnish citizen either died or disappeared in the eastern part of Ukraine on Sunday.

The ministry declined to provide any further details, although Jussi Tanner, Head of Consular Affairs at the ministry, said Finnish authorities are in contact with their Ukrainian counterparts about the case.

In January, the ministry said that it believes about 150 Finnish citizens have volunteered to fight with Ukrainian forces since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"The exact number is not known, as we do not monitor the travel of Finns abroad with such accuracy," Tanner told Yle on Tuesday.

He added that the ministry is aware of more than a dozen cases of dead or missing Finnish volunteer fighters in Ukraine.

The known cases are usually reported in Finnish media, such as the death of 'Sipa' in November last year, the killing of a former Centre Party politician, Ville Mykkänen, last summer, and the widely publicised story of Kasper Alhoniemi, the first known Finn to die in the conflict.