Original article on The Irish Sun

REASON TO FIGHT Irishman missing and presumed dead in Ukraine volunteered as he couldn’t ‘forget’ about his Ukrainian heritage

He was reported missing earlier this month

THE Irish soldier born to Ukrainian parents who is missing presumed dead in Ukraine volunteered as he couldn’t “forget” about his heritage.

Alex Ryzhuk, who was reported missing earlier this month, was born and raised in Dublin to Ukrainian parents from Rivne.

The 20-year-old joined the Ukrainian forces at 18 with a new passport he obtained in secret after his parents hid his old one in an attempt to stop him joining the war effort.

A Ukrainian medic believes the Dublin native may have been hit by a Russian drone, according to The Irish Times and the Department of Foreign affairs have confirmed they are aware of the case.

Born and raised in Rathmines, Alex considered himself Irish and went by ‘Irlandets’ in the field, which means Irishman in the Ukrainian language.

However, in an interview with filmmaker Finn Boylan, filmed before Alex went missing, the soldier revealed he volunteered to fight on the front lines last year as he couldn’t forget about his heritage.

In the footage aired on RTE’s Prime Time, Alex said: “My parents, they’re originally from Ukraine, they came over to Ireland over 23 years ago – I’ve been living in Ireland ever since.”

He continued: “At the end of the day I was born and raised in Ireland. Ireland has given me many opportunities and many things in my life that I am grateful for so I would consider myself Irish, but at the same time I can not forget about my heritage and where my parents come from.

“At the moment the situation over here in Ukraine is quite serious. I need to be over here helping out while I still can.”

The soldier revealed that once “serious allegations” began to come out about Russian forces he no longer felt he could let it go, pushing the decision to volunteer.

He said: “At the start of the war I was on Telegram keeping up with what was going on and once Bucha got liberated, a bunch of cases with rape and serious allegations went out against Russian soldiers and me having little siblings I was like, ‘I cannot let this go’.

“After that it was mainly deaths of friends and family, so I have a few friends, 18 to 23, who lost their life in this war and a few older family members unfortunately too lost their life in this war.”

Alex went to school in Synge Street in Dublin 8 and had told the filmmaker he had opened to return for a visit when he came back to Ireland.

Opening up on his time in school, he told Finn: “I went to school in Synge Street CBS, lots of good memories from there.

“I’ll have to come back to visit once I come back.”

The school’s principal Clare Catterson said Alex was an “all rounder” and was “very proud” of his Ukrainian heritage.

‘One of those all-rounders’

She told RTE’s This Morning: “He was just one of those all-rounders, a very dedicated student as well.”

“He was very proud of his Ukrainian heritage. He was bilingual. We’ve always been a very multinational, diverse school here in Synge Street, very reflective of the city centre.

“So you would have heard Alex speaking to other Ukrainian students in his own language. He would often speak about having been home during the summers to visit relatives.”

Speaking to Miriam O’Callaghan on Prime Time, Finn Boylan of FinnHouse Films said the young soldier had “huge ideas to defend his heritage.”

‘Highly idealistic’

Finn said: “He was highly effective at what he did, highly idealistic, motivated, driven.

“He was a man with huge ideas to defend his heritage. He went over there because he had friends and family that had died in the front which drove him there.”

The filmmaker revealed the soldier had plans to join the Irish Ranger Wing when he returned to Ireland.