Shan-Le Kearns, 26, is the fourth New Zealander known to have died in Ukraine. Photo: Supplied
A Christchurch man who died in Ukraine did not have military training but was very professional in what he did and understood what the outcome could be, former minister of defence Ron Mark says.
Shan-Le Kearns, 26, died in the past few weeks.
He had posted on social media a slogan that translated to 'Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes'.
A source in Ukraine told RNZ he had been trying to rescue wounded comrades when his group was hit by drones and explosives.
Kearns died attempting to save fellow soldiers, and a Finnish soldier was killed alongside him, the source said.
Ron Mark, who has been in the Ukraine war zone and knows the Kearns family, said Shan-Le did not have a military background or military training.
"It's the nature of recruits, they don't tend to have a lot of training but of course there're people that have gone over that have had considerable military experience but ... it doesn't really matter what military experience you might've had in the New Zealand, Australian or British army prior to this war. A lot of it doesn't mean anything because other than basic soldier skills this is a war of a difference and it has transformed swiftly."
Shan-Le had been in Ukraine for a couple of years and had seen an evolution from First World War trench warfare to high tech warfare on a scale the New Zealand military was not familiar with, he said.
Drones had become "the king of the battle space on the battlefield", particularly long-range high precision drones, he said.
"Shan-Le's squad did what it was sent in to do and for Shan-Le and a friend, they fought a rear guard to allow their mates to get out, having completed what they were meant to do and they fell victim to a drone."
Those on the battlefield operate as sensibly as they can with a view to drone counter measures, he said.
"But it is what it is. The thing that astonishes me about these young people is that they're committed to what they're doing because they believe what they're seeing and what is happening to Ukrainian people is wrong.
"It's astonishing how quickly people like Shan-Le have become very very professional in their skill."
He said people like Shan-Le had come a long way.
"Regardless of whether he was a civilian and not trained in the New Zealand military, he certainly became very professional in what he did and he fully understood what the outcome could be and you know from what I hear he was very at ease with that."
There was some concern that Shan-Le's death had been reported in the media as it made processes more difficult, Mark said.
Mark said he was being guiding by the family who wanted to protect their privacy in terms of what he could say about Shan-Le.
"Of course there's all sorts of people who get online and say all sorts of things and some of it's not very pleasant, on the other side there's New Zealanders who understand why men like, men and women like Shan-Le go over and do what they do and it comes down ... to people that see something's that wrong and rather than talk about it they believe they should do something about it."
People who travel to Ukraine may believe their country is not doing as much as it should to assist in Ukraine, he said.
"Once they get over there they pretty much become embedded, they meet Ukrainian people, they get to witness first hand the bombing, the shelling, the civilian casualties, the drone attacks on innocent civilians."
Some young people decide that they have to take a stand to settle their conscience and they do so knowing the potential consequences, he said.
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