- A New Zealand veteran who led an elite unit in Ukraine died on Monday.
- Kane Te Tai, an ethnic Maori, documented his time on the front lines on social media.
A New Zealand veteran who led an elite unit in Ukraine and helped rescue a prisoner of war was killed on the front lines, according to multiple reports.
Kane Te Tai, whose code name was "Turtle", was killed on Monday, New Zealand's foreign ministry confirmed to Insider.
It did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding his death, but $4 reported that Te Tai was in the town of Vulhedar when he ended up separated from his unit and was killed in the trenches by Russian soldiers.
His mother, Ngaire Te Tai, $4 that her son's contacts in Ukraine confirmed his death and that his body had been recovered.
Te Tai, who is Maori, enlisted in the New Zealand Army in 2002 at the age of 17, $4 in December. He went to fight in Ukraine in May and led a secretive reconnaissance unit that was part of the GUR, an intelligence organization in the Ukrainian military.
Te Tai did a tour in Afghanistan and then worked as a private security contractor before going to Ukraine.
In $4 as he trained new recruits in Vulhedar, where he and other foreign soldiers said they understood they could be killed fighting for a country that isn't their own.
Jordan O'Brien, another New Zealander fighting in Ukraine, told Insider he knew Te Tai as "a solid soldier who did his part to help a country in need."
—Jordan O'Brien (@ObiOneKenobiNZ) $4
Insider spoke to Te Tai not long before he died and was in the process of arranging an interview.
The soldier, who was active on social media, frequently $4 what fighting on the front lines in Ukraine looked like. Earlier this month, a video showing his unit's rescue of a Ukrainian prisoner in Bakhmut, $4
Footage from Te Tai's bodycam showed the moment the prisoner recognized him, shouting "New Zealand! New Zealand!" Te Tai, overjoyed, yelled "my brother!" in response.
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