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Italian Fighter Alex Pineschi Killed in Ukraine War While Serving in Military Intelligence Unit
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An Italian national, 42-year-old Alex Pineschi, has been killed in the war in Ukraine while serving in a special forces unit within Ukrainian military intelligence.
According to ANSA on 29 May, citing the volunteer association “Memorial,” he became the 11th Italian citizen reported to have died in the war.
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There has been no official confirmation regarding the exact circumstances of his death. However, posts in online groups dedicated to foreign fighters claim that Pineschi was killed on May 23 “together with his comrades from a drone command unit in the Lyman direction.”
Pineschi was previously known for his involvement in other armed conflicts. According to ANSA, he fought in Syria and Iraq between 2014 and 2019 and served as an instructor for Kurdish forces.
According to his own statements, he had worked as a “freelance private security professional in Italy and abroad,” but later sought “something greater” in his life.
“If someone asked me today why I decided to fight, I would answer: because I saw a cause worth risking my life for,” he once said, the outket reported.
After returning to Italy in earlier years, his activities were investigated by prosecutors on suspicion of mercenary involvement. The case was later closed after authorities classified his participation in conflicts as “voluntary.”
Pineschi was also the founder of AP TAC, a tactical training center specializing in firearms instruction, and the author of the memoir Peshmerga: Facing Death, in which he described his experiences in war and his sense of military vocation.
At the same time, he initially showed little interest in the war in Ukraine, stating in 2024 that he “did not feel this war as his own.”
Pineschi’s death comes amid broader reporting on the continued involvement of foreign volunteers in Ukraine’s armed forces.
Rare frontline footage has also recently shown a British volunteer operating under Ukrainian command while under repeated Russian drone surveillance and attack, according to Forces News.
The video depicts a group of soldiers advancing toward a frontline position while being tracked and intermittently targeted by Russian drones.
The footage shows a former British Army serviceman now fighting in Ukraine. Forces News said it had verified the individual’s identity but withheld the name for security reasons.
According to The Spectator, between 2,000 and 3,000 British nationals had joined Ukraine’s International Legion by 2025, marking the largest deployment of British volunteers since the Spanish Civil War.
In general, as of August 2025, the Armed Forces of Ukraine include volunteers from 72 countries, with nearly 40% coming from South America, reflecting a steadily expanding international component in Ukraine’s defense effort.
Speaking to hromadske, Kostiantyn Milevskyi, an officer in charge of coordinating the enlistment of foreign fighters, said that while only around 100 to 150 foreign volunteers were joining Ukraine’s forces each month in 2022, the current figure has risen to approximately 600 monthly recruits.
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