Foreign Affairs confirms that a Cantabrian soldier volunteering in Ukraine is "missing"

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed this Wednesday that the Cantabrian soldier known as Grandfather, who joined the International Legion to fight in Ukraine “has been missing” since last November, as reported by the newspaper El País.

“Officially we only know that he is missing,” Foreign sources confirmed when asked about the situation of the soldier, a native of Cantabria and whose initials would be MO.. and who, according to comrades in arms, would have died in November 2023 in a Russian attack on the Andriivka front, in the province of Donetsk.

According to the aforementioned media report, MO, 44 years old, was part of the First Battalion of the Third Company of the International Legion, which is fighting in Ukraine against the Russian invasion. This soldier, with 18 years of service in the 64th Regiment of Mountain Hunters of the Spanish Army, disappeared on his first combat mission, but since his body has not yet been recovered, he is not listed among the official deaths.

However, comrades in arms of the Cantabrian soldier have detailed that he died due to the impact of a Russian drone bomb and his wife has explained that the family is awaiting official notification from the Spanish Embassy of his death or situation in life.

Two Spaniards who shared time with MO. They assure that the body was recovered at the end of December and that it is in a morgue in the city of Dnipro waiting for the family or Spanish diplomacy to appear to identify the body.

According to a relative of MO, the family maintains regular contact with the Spanish Embassy in Kiev waiting for official confirmation of the soldier’s condition, a verification for which the police would have taken DNA samples from the father and sisters to facilitate their identification. identification, which would allow the body to be repatriated and his wife could apply for a widow’s pension and compensation linked to a possible death.