A 20-year-old Irish man serving as a volunteer in eastern Ukraine is missing in action and presumed dead following a suspected Russian drone attack.
Alex Ryzhuk from Rathmines in south Dublin was officially deemed missing in action by the Ukrainian military while serving on the frontline in the war against Russia earlier this month.
According to a Ukrainian medic familiar with the incident, Mr Ryzhuk, who went by the name “Irlandets” (“Irishman” in Ukrainian), may have been hit by a Russian drone.
Mr Ryzhuk’s family and girlfriend have been informed that he is officially missing, pending confirmation of his death.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said that the Department is “aware of the case and is providing consular assistance,” adding that: “as with all consular cases, the Department does not comment on the details of individual cases.”
Mr Ryzhuk, an Irish citizen born to Ukrainian parents, travelled to Ukraine to join the Ukrainian Foreign Legion after turning 18.
In a video posted on the Butusov Plus YouTube channel on March 23rd, he is seen speaking in Ukrainian in a military bunker in eastern Ukraine. He says he is an Irish citizen from south Dublin and does not have Ukrainian citizenship but that at home he always spoke Ukrainian with his parents.
[ ‘War has changed a lot’: the young Dubliner flying strike drones for UkraineOpens in new window ]
In the video, Mr Ryzhuk says he was 17 years old when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022 and was eager to be involved in the war effort. He says his parents confiscated his Irish passport in an attempt to stop him travelling to Ukraine but he says he applied for a new one and went to Ukraine to join the Ukrainian Foreign Legion when he turned 18. “I tricked my parents a bit. I hope they will forgive me,” he says.
In an interview with The Irish Times in May, he said that after training in Kyiv, he joined the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, which has gained an elite reputation and a large public following due to its presence in the hardest battles of the war. He was then deployed with the unit to Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Kharkiv.
Mr Ryzhuk was awarded by his commander earlier in the year for setting a new record for his unit by using first-person-view drones (FPVs) to hit six Russian artillery guns and kill two Russian soldiers in Avdiivka in Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk region.
If his death is confirmed, he would be the fourth and youngest Irish man to die fighting for Ukraine against Russian forces.
Graham Dale (45) from Raheny, north Dublin was killed in December 2023. Finbar Cafferkey (45), from Achill Island, was killed while fighting in eastern Ukraine in April 2023. He was a military volunteer with previous combat experience in Syria where he assisted Kurdish militia in their battle against Islamic State.
Rory Mason (23), from Dunboyne, Co Meath, was killed in September 2022 while fighting in the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine as a serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region.
Mr Ryzhuk was interviewed recently by Irish filmmaker Finn Boylan of FinnHouse Films as part of coverage broadcast on RTÉ's Prime Time about developments in the war.
He said in the interview that he intended to return to Ireland and join the Defence Forces after the war in Ukraine concluded. “I’m from Dublin, Ireland,” he said. “I’ve lived there my whole life. I grew up there. At the start of 2023, I arrived in Ukraine.”
He was critical of Ireland’s neutrality policy, which he said could “backfire”, adding: “In my opinion, Ireland needs to do a big reality check.”
He also said he knew a number of people who had been killed in the war.
“I have a few friends from 18 to 23 who have lost their lives in this war,” he said. “When someone dies for this cause, it is a person giving the most they have in their lives. At the end of the day, the most valuable thing you have as a human being is your life.
“Those people who died, unfortunately, gave that for this country.
“War is not a joke, death in war is a very high probability,” he said. “It is something that constantly happens, even if it’s not to you, it’s to someone else, or to someone you know.”
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