Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft law to extend the legal stay of foreign volunteers and stateless individuals fighting in its armed forces, Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyi announced on August 28, 2026.
Under the proposed legislation, foreign fighters will be granted six months instead of three to settle their legal status in Ukraine after completing their military contracts. Koretskyi said the government expects the bill to be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, for formal consideration and approval.
The draft law also counts the period of military service directly toward the five-year residency requirement needed to secure a permanent immigration permit. Additionally, it establishes a foreign travel identity document for volunteers who cannot obtain or exchange passports in their home countries due to political persecution or safety threats.
According to figures from the Foreigner Recruitment Center released in May 2026, more than 10,000 foreign citizens from 75 countries are serving in the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine alone. The new proposal builds on Law No. 4730-IX and government Resolution No. 573, which took effect on May 10, 2026, creating a streamlined legal corridor for foreign troops. Data from the state migration service shows that more than 8,000 foreign nationals have received Ukrainian citizenship since 2022.
The legislative expansion comes as Ukraine continues to honor thousands of international volunteers who have joined the conflict since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. American citizens make up a significant portion of those foreign fighters, leaving behind civilian careers or US military service to enlist.
Data compiled by the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War shows that at least 92 United States citizens had died defending Ukraine as of September 2025.
Because neither the Ukrainian government nor the United States government maintains an official, separate state registry of fallen foreign volunteers, casualty figures are tracked primarily by museum projects, independent researchers, and international news outlets.
Ukraine formally established the International Legion within the Defense Forces in 2022, enabling foreign nationals to sign official military contracts and serve on equal terms with Ukrainian soldiers. In June 2022, International Legion units deployed across the last remaining bridge connecting Lysychansk to Severodonetsk, a city renamed Siverskodonetsk in 2024, to reinforce frontline positions during intense shelling.
The initial wave of foreign recruits in 2022 consisted largely of military veterans with prior combat experience, including former US armed forces personnel. Over time, civilian volunteers with no previous military background also arrived, viewing the war as a moral obligation to protect democratic values or a search for personal purpose.
Fallen American Veterans and Volunteers
The first American combat casualty confirmed in Ukraine was Willy Joseph Cancel, a 22-year-old veteran of the United States Marine Corps. Cancel joined the International Legion in the spring of 2022 and was killed while carrying out a combat mission. His comrades stressed that Cancel was a volunteer defender, rejecting claims by Russian officials who sought to label him a mercenary.
Another early volunteer was Grady Kurpasi, a former US Marine Corps captain and veteran of the war in Iraq. Kurpasi joined Ukrainian forces in 2022 and served in Team Raven, a specialized reconnaissance unit within the International Legion. Open-source records indicate Kurpasi died during combat in Kherson Oblast while attempting to rescue subordinates from enemy artillery fire. His remains were later interred at Arlington National Cemetery in the United States.
Younger Americans without military experience also answered the call. Ethan Hertweck, a 21-year-old combat medic from the United States, had been discharged from the US military because of a genetic blood condition.
In Ukraine, Hertweck joined the 131st Reconnaissance Battalion Vidhmar. Comrades said he died near Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast in late 2023 while trying to save a wounded fellow soldier. He was identified by his IGY6 tattoo, an acronym for I Got Your 6, which he wore as a symbol of combat brotherhood.
A public memorial ceremony for Hertweck took place at Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Kyiv's central Independence Square, in February 2025, where fellow soldiers paid tribute to his service.
His parents, John and Leslie Hertweck, traveled to Kyiv to attend the service. Leslie Hertweck said her son had died far too young but had died a real hero, expressing immense pride in his decision to fight for freedom in Ukraine.
During the service on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, Ukrainian military representatives presented John and Leslie Hertweck with the national flag of Ukraine that had covered their son's casket.
Honouring the Fallen in Kyiv
On May 25, coinciding with United States Memorial Day, a cultural memorial event took place at Saint Sophia Cathedral National Sanctuary in Kyiv to honor American citizens who died fighting Russian aggression. Attendees included members of the Defense Intelligence International Legion, military personnel, foreign diplomats, public figures, and international partners, with the national anthems of the United States and Ukraine performed.
The event featured artwork created on wooden ammunition crates and a performance surrounding a piece titled Crucifixion, which was inscribed with the names of fallen American volunteers. In March 2025, American citizens living in Ukraine, including medics and aid workers, gathered at Maidan Nezalezhnosti to add photographs of fallen volunteers to the flag memorial.
Among those honored was Dalton Medlin, born in Sherman, Texas, on December 29, 1998. Medlin joined the US Army as an infantryman in July 2017 but chose not to renew his contract, feeling military service was becoming overly focused on politics. He enlisted in the Ukrainian military in the summer of 2022. Medlin's commander called him one of the unit's best soldiers, noting his deep affection for the Ukrainian people fighting against a larger aggressor. Medlin was killed on September 27, 2023, during a reconnaissance mission in Donetsk Oblast, having previously expressed a desire to live in Ukraine after the war.
The fallen volunteers included individuals from varied professional backgrounds. Pete Reed, a former US Marine, arrived as a humanitarian medic and was killed while evacuating civilians in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast. Other volunteers worked as engineers, medical professionals, and trade workers. In interviews, volunteers stated that they fought to defend freedom, international law, and global security.
Andrew Irwin Webber, born February 8, 1983, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, graduated from high school in Washington state before attending the United States Military Academy at West Point. After earning degrees in social geography and environmental engineering, he served as a US Army officer in Iraq and Afghanistan before earning a Juris Doctor degree in 2017. Webber traveled to Ukraine in 2023 to share his military experience, warning that unchecked Russian aggression would have global repercussions. He died on July 29, 2023, during an assault near Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast. His West Point class ring, an academy tradition where one ring stays with the officer in battle and another in burial, is exhibited at the FOR FREEDOM display at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.
Exhibits at the Kyiv museum also display Medlin's military boots containing two unopened cans of Coca-Cola that he planned to drink after returning from his mission. Across Ukraine, comrades and local citizens routinely kneel as funeral processions pass through city centers, remembering foreign volunteers who gave their lives.
