U.S. Marine vet killed in action defending Ukraine

A former U.S. Marine hired to fight in Ukraine against Russian forces was killed Monday.

Willy Joseph Cancel was working for a private military contractor that had sent him to Ukraine. He signed up just before the outbreak of Russia’s invasion to supplement his full-time job as a Tennessee corrections officer.

"He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn't come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn't have to be involved in it," his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

Cancel flew to Poland on Mar. 12, where he crossed over into Ukraine.

Cabrera said her son was fighting alongside men from “all different countries,” but his body had not yet been recovered. The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry created a special unit, the International Legion, for foreign fighters willing to help defend the country against Russia. More than 20,000 volunteers from 52 countries had expressed their desire to join the fight as of Mar. 7.

The Marine veteran leaves behind a wife and 7-month-old baby. He is originally from Orange County, New York.

Cancel’s brother-in-law, Devin Tietze Jr., said he was the “type to fight for what’s right regardless of the outcome.”

Cancel is not the first American citizen to be killed in Ukraine. 67-year-old James Whitney Hill, who had been working as a teacher there for 25 years, was killed in an attack on Chernihiv.

Journalist Brent Renaud was fatally shot in the neck when his car came under fire by Russian troops while stopped at a Ukrainian checkpoint.