Relatives: Ex-US Marine killed in Ukraine fighting

A 22-year-old former U.S. Marine was killed alongside Ukrainian forces in the war with Russia, his relatives told news outlets, in the first known death of an American citizen fighting in Ukraine.

Willy Joseph Cancel was killed Monday while working for a military contracting company that sent him to Ukraine, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN. Cancel had recently worked as a corrections officer in Tennessee and previously served in the Marines from 2017 to 2021, joining the Corps the same year he graduated from high school.

Cabrera said her son had signed up to work with the private military contractor shortly before fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24. She told CNN he agreed to go to Ukraine.

“He wanted to go over because he believed in what Ukraine was fighting for, and he wanted to be a part of it to contain it there so it didn’t come here, and that maybe our American soldiers wouldn’t have to be involved in it,” she said.

Cancel had served as a volunteer firefighter in New York and had a 7-month-old son, according to an online fundraising page set up by a man identifying himself as his father.

The U.S. government said it had seen reports about the death but did not have official confirmation, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

“It’s very sad. He left a little baby behind,” President Joe Biden said.

Psaki reiterated warnings against U.S. citizens traveling to Ukraine.

“We know people want to help, but we do encourage Americans to find other ways to do so rather than traveling to Ukraine to fight there,” she said. “It is a war zone.”

The State Department also said it was aware of the reports and was “closely monitoring the situation,” but could not comment further “due to privacy considerations.” It, too, urged U.S. citizens not to go to Ukraine.

Cabrera said her son’s body has not been found.

“They are trying, the men that were with him, but it was either grab his body or get killed, but we would love for him to come back to us,” she said.

She said her son flew to Poland on March 12 and entered Ukraine shortly after, to fight alongside men from a number of countries.

A roommate who lived with Cancel in Kentucky in the months before he left for Ukraine said he became interested in going to help shortly after the war began.