A fundraiser has been launched for an Irish soldier who was killed fighting in Ukraine.
Robert Deegan, 29, was killed in eastern Ukraine while covering his team’s retreat from an area in the war-torn region on September 19.
Mr. Deegan, who joined the Defence Forces in 2014 and enlisted in the Army Ranger wing in 2017, went to fight in Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022.
It is understood that Mr. Deegan was seriously injured in an IED blast in October 2022. He was medically evacuated back to Ireland for treatment and rehabilitation. He returned to Ukraine earlier this year.
Following hundreds of tributes to the "warrior," a fundraising campaign has been set up to raise money for Mr. Deegan’s repatriation costs following his tragic death.
Taking to GoFundMe, Rossa O’Donnell, who is part of a community that knows the Deegan family through shared time in the Irish Defence Forces and the Curragh Camp in Kildare, shared that they were raising money to bring the body of the 29-year-old back home.
The fundraiser read: "My name is Rossa O’Donnell and I am part of a community that knows the Deegan family through shared time in the Irish Defence Forces as well as being from the Curragh Camp, Co Kildare, Ireland.
"On behalf of the Deegan family and with their permission, we are raising funds for the repatriation costs of their son Robert, who was killed tragically in battle while fighting for Ukraine as part of the ongoing war. Any funds raised will be used to help Robert and his family."
With a target of €12,000 to cover repatriation costs, the ‘Support the Family of Robert Deegan’ fundraiser has more than doubled its goal, raising over €28,000 in less than a week.
Among hundreds of tributes paid to the young man, it was noted that he was a "natural soldier," with his local community said to be in ‘in shock’ over his devastating death.
You can check out the GoFundMe for Robert Deegan here.
*This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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