A drone attack in Ukraine reportedly killed two U.S. military veterans July 29.
One of the victims was identified as Lance Allen Lawrence, a former Marine from Vandalia, Ohio, according to a statement released by the city. The other was identified as Andrew Webber, a former Army officer, Military.com reported.
“Lawrence was serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a member of the 59th Motor Brigade,” the statement read in part.
Lawrence had served in the Marine Corps from 2013–2016 as a machine gunner, according to a GoFundMe page created in his honor. (RELATED: NATO Country’s Air Force Intercepts Russian Bombers Flying Near UK: REPORT)
Lawrence and Webber reportedly were part of the all-volunteer group called “Chosen Company” that had come under heavy Russian fire from “mortars, heavy machine guns, grenade launchers and grenades” in Eastern Ukraine July 29. Lawrence, who served as the volunteer unit’s fire support group leader, had just recovered from a ricochet round hitting his wrist before returning to the frontline in the weeks before his death, per Military.com.
“He spent all his life practicing war, never got to go. He was like, ‘I have these skills, there’s people out there that need it. Let me go.'” Lawrence’s medic, who went by the pseudonym Brit, reportedly said of Lawrence
No fewer than 16 American veterans have been killed in the war in Ukraine as of May, although the federal government had officially warned against involvement in the fighting, per The Washington Post. More than 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, half of them from the mercenary group Wagner, while 80,000 have been wounded, according to the BBC.
The U.S. Department of State approved “$400 million worth of arms and equipment from Department of Defense stocks” in July, per a press statement.
“The United States and our allies and partners will stand united with Ukraine, for as long as it takes,” the statement noted.