Ex-NY man dies fighting for Ukraine
2nd American killed in mine trip LEAVES WIFE, 5 KIDS:
A US citizen has been killed in combat in Ukraine, the second American to die fighting against Russian occupiers, the State Department confirmed Tuesday.
The May 15 death of Stephen Zabielski, 52, in the village of Dorozhnyanka, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, was first reported in an obituary in the upstate newspaper The Recorder.
The department declined to provide further details about the circumstances surrounding the death of the father of five, “out of respect to the family.”
But a comrade told Rolling Stone that Zabielski, a US war veteran and construction worker, died when he touched the trip wire of a land mine.
Tristan Nettles, a Marine veteran who was with Zabielski the night he died, told the magazine that Zabielski and another soldier were on a mission in foggy conditions to clear mines ahead of a planned Ukrainian offensive when he accidentally touched the wire hidden in thick vegetation. The explosion also severely injured another fighter.
Zabielski, who was from New York, but had moved to Florida in recent years, had been part of a multinational combat squad called the Wolverines, which was made up of 13 English-speakers.
Miceál Francis O’Hurley, who identified himself as a fellow foreign fighter in Ukraine, wrote on Facebook that he knew Zabielski from his time serving in the Persian Gulf War with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
O’Hurley said their paths crossed again in Kyiv, when Zabielski had to join the country’s armed forces after Russia’s invasion Feb. 24.
“We both laughed at how old we were compared to the keen young Ukrainians in uniform,” O’Hurley recalled in a post. “He feared he wouldn’t be accepted given our age, but his experience got him the exception. Despite our age, we both knew we had a duty, given our beliefs.
“Steve . . . gave his life for Ukraine’s freedom. He was the child of Polish-Americans so he knew and understood sacrifice.”
Zabielski is survived by his wife, Fran, five stepchildren, and a grandchild.
“Steve enjoyed life to the fullest,” the obituary stated. “He enjoyed hunting, fishing, & riding his Harley. Steve will be missed by all who knew and loved him.”
Willy Joseph Cancel Jr., 22, a retired Marine, was killed in Ukraine in April, according to his mother.