First Slovakian military volunteer probably killed in Ukraine

Rastislav Gajdošík, a military volunteer from Slovakia who fought for Ukraine, has been missing for more than a month, and he is suspected to have been killed.

Source: European Pravda; Denník N, a Slovak daily newspaper and a news website 

Details: As journalists have learned, 40-year-old Rastislav "Rusty" Gajdošík from Bratislava, who volunteered to fight for Ukraine, is officially missing.

Gajdošík was a deputy platoon leader in the International Legion.

Russian Telegram channels wrote that he supposedly was killed near Staromaiorske in Donetsk Oblast on 17 June. His brothers-in-arms mentioned the same probable date.

Staromaiorske has been under occupation since the first days of the full-scale invasion. It was liberated in July 2023, and the Russian army reclaimed it in mid-June.

Gajdošík was on the territory currently controlled by Russia at the time of his disappearance, so it is impossible to find out his fate and bring back his body. His friends have  planted a Slovak flag with his name on it among the thousands of flags on Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square); these flags are set there in the memory of the fallen warriors.

The Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that they were unaware of this when the media reached them.

Rastislav Gajdošík came as a military volunteer to defend Ukraine – almost from the first days of the full-scale invasion in 2022. He explained his motivation in his public interviews by explaining that he understood that if Ukraine were to be defeated, Russia could attack Poland, Slovakia or the Baltic States.

During this time, he was injured several times and received awards. He took part in the offensive to liberate Kharkiv Oblast in 2022 and in the spring of 2023 in the defence of Bakhmut. He extended his contract with the Ukrainian military in March 2024. 

Gajdošík had no wife or children in Slovakia. He met his girlfriend in Ukraine and they planned to get married this year. 

Background: 

• Tomasz Sękala, a 22-year-old Polish military volunteer, was killed near the village of Dibrova in Luhansk Oblast on 13 July.
• Earlier, it was reported that Zurab Iashvili, a military volunteer from Georgia, was killed in Ukraine after being wounded in the fighting.

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