Ukrainian member of French Foreign Legion killed in action in Mali

Dmytro Martynyouk, a Ukrainian service member of the French Foreign Legion, died from severe injuries sustained in an action zone in Mali, as French authorities reported on May 1.

The ethnic Ukrainian served with the legion’s 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment as an armored fighting vehicle crew leader in the rank of brigadier (which corresponds to the rank of corporal in French cavalry formations) and was deployed as part of Operation Barkhane, the French anti-terrorist military action in the North African country.

Martynyouk, 29, was injured on April 23 after a military vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the region of Liptako in southeastern Mali, which suffers from guerrilla warfare of radical Islamist formations active since the outbreak of civil war in the country in 2012.

France keeps deploying nearly 5,000 troops deterring the Jihadi groups, where Liptako is considered one of the region’s hottest spots.

Following the April 23 incident, Martynyouk was airlifted to France for treatment. He succumbed to his wounds eventually in the Percy de Clamart military hospital near Paris.

The French Ministry of Armed Forces expressed condolences over the legionnaire’s death “to his family, to his loved ones, and to his brothers in arms.”

“France is grateful to those who chose it, to those who give their lives for it,” the official message reads.

“Brigadier Dmytro Martynyouk died while fighting terrorism in an area where several groups are carrying out violent actions against the civilian population. He died in the name of convictions and values ​​that he defended until his last breath.”

The office of the French President Emmanuel Macron also reacted to Martynyouk’s death, saying that the French leader “bowed with deep respect before the sacrifice of this legionnaire… struck in the accomplishment of his mission.”

According to the French defense ministry, the Ukrainian legionnaire was not married and had no children.

On May 2, a senior official with Ukraine’s SBU security service Major General Viktor Yahun reported on his Facebook page that Martynyouk was born in 1991 in the city of Volochysk in Khmelnytska Oblast some 320 kilometers southwest of Kyiv.

He joined the French Foreign Legion in September 2015 and was later deployed for a mission in Djibouti, a West African country embattled by a protracted multisided war, in 2017.

The French Foreign Legion was established as far back as 1831 as a military branch open for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces. As of January 2018, it represented 11 specialized infantry regiments manned by nearly 8,900 contracted servicepersons enlisted from nearly 100 countries.

The legion has a reputation of a highly-trained, elite military force forwarding high requirements to its recruit’s fitness level and mental stamina. In the past, the legion was known for its tradition not to ask to reveal a recruit’s name, particularly giving a chance to foreigners having issues with the law in their countries.

In modern times, all applying candidates undergo strict verification on the subject of their criminal records, particularly regarding violent offenses and drug dealing.

Newly accepted legionnaires are allowed to choose a new full name, including a traditional French one.

The service in the legion is normally regarded as attractive for young people from developing countries willing to build a well-paid career in a Western military force. Besides, a legionnaire is entitled to apply for French citizenship after three years in ranks, which also considered as a motivation for many recruits from developing countries; besides, a legionnaire injured in action is entitled to apply for citizenship immediately.

The legion formations are often engaged in various French peacekeeping and humanitarian missions overseas.

In different times, nearly one-third of the legion’s personnel was reported to be originally from post-Soviet nations European, such as Ukraine or Russia.

On March 13, another Ukrainian legionnaire was reported to have died in the French ranks: Corporal Volodymyr Rybonchuk of the 1st Foreign Engineer Regiment.

While serving as a minesweeper, part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, Rybonchuk was killed in a traffic accident.