Irishman’s body may never be recovered
THE body of an Irish soldier killed in Ukraine may never be recovered, a TG4 documentary claims.
Caillte san Ucrain – Lost in Ukraine – chronicles the life and death of Achill Island man Finbar Cafferkey, 45, who died last April.
Mr Cafferkey, who was a political activist and had also fought against ISIS in Syria, had been defending Bakhmut which fell to the Russians with the loss of 50,000 troops.
It had been thought his remains had been recovered and awaiting a positive identification, but TG4 has learned he has now been officially re-classified as “missing-in-action”.
Andrii, 39, a soldier who was wounded near Bakhmut, told reporter Kevin Magee about the problems recovering the dead.
He said: ‘It’s almost impossible. We had cases where we had a so-called agreement between Russian troops and our allocation team was entering to pick up the bodies, and they were immediately shot. Only in some rare cases where
the commanders of units from both sides have an agreement is it possible to recover bodies but in general it’s very, very, very difficult.
“The situation in the Bakhmut region is always quite difficult because the enemy is much better equipped with heavy weapons, drones, artillery and number of troops, so it’s tough fighting.”
Mr Cafferkey died in a Russian mortar strike along with former US Marine veteran Cooper Andrews and Russian anarchist Dmitriy Petrov.
Mr Cafferkey and Mr Petrov had previously been with the YPG, a left-wing Kurdish militia who fought against ISIS in Syria.
Mr Magee travelled to Ukraine to find out more about the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Cafferkey, who was killed last April.
The documentary examines the reasons behind his decision to enlist in Ukraine and shows the impact of his passing on his family.
Kevin travelled to Lviv in western Ukraine, and tracked down a former female volunteer solider who trained alongside Mr Cafferkey and was due to take part in the same ill-fated mission.
Other Ukrainian frontline soldiers interviewed told of the difficulties serving in the Bakhmut.
■ Caillte san Ucrain from TG4’S award-winning current affairs strand Iniuchadh TG4, airs on Wednesday at 9.30pm and on Tg4.ie.