Georgian fighter dies in Ukraine
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, December 11
Another Georgian fighter has been killed while fighting alongside Ukrainian soldiers to defend Ukraine's territorial integrity.
Georgian Irakli Kutelia died on December 9 when his vehicle exploded after hitting a land mine planted near Donetsk Airport in Eastern Ukraine, according to Rustavi 2 TV.
The explosion also claimed another life and left seven other soldiers badly injured.
According to Georgian soldiers fighting in Ukraine against Russian and separatists forces, Kutelia served in the 93th brigade and held Ukrainian citizenship.
Kutelia’s friends also announced that the late soldier had no parents.
His death has already been confirmed by Georgia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Mikheil Ukleba.
This was the eighth reported death of a Georgian man fighting for Ukraine, although the official number has not been released and is thought to be higher.
Aleksandre Grigolashvili, 32, was the first Georgian soldier who was killed in Ukraine while fighting against pro-Russian rebels in December last year.
Grigolashvili served in an intelligence battalion which was located near the village Shastya, Ukraine.
The last Georgian fatality preceding Kutelia was Giorgi Janelidze, who was killed on April 19 this year.
According to the Georgian battalion defending Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Janelidze fought for the Azov Battalion, an all-volunteer paramilitary militia affiliated with the Ukrainian government, and was killed in an attack near the Shyrokyne village.
