Operation Barkhane: A legionnaire died | French Foreign Legion Information

On April 23, during Operation Barkhane, a military tanker of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment (1er REC) was struck by an improvised explosive device near Gao in Mali, West Africa. Two legionnaires were seriously imjuried. One of them died a week later, on May 1.

Operation Barkhane: Dmytro Martynyouk

The killed legionnaire is Brigadier (Corporal in French cavalry units) Dmytro Martynyouk, 29 years old. Born in Volochysk in western Ukraine, he joined the Foreign Legion in September 2015. After the initial four-month training in Castelnaudary, he was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 1er REC in March 2016. In 2017, legionnaire Martynyouk was deployed to Djibouti (Horn of Africa). In January 2020, he was deployed for the second time, this time to Mali, to take part in counter-terrorist Operation Barkhane. Badly wounded on 23 April, he succumbed to his injuries in France a week later, on 1 May 2020. He became the 42nd French soldier to have died in Operation Barkhane. Brigadier Martynyouk was single, without children. R.I.P.

Six weeks earlier, in mid-March 2020, another Ukrainian member of the French Foreign Legion died during his deployment, this time in Lebanon. Volodymyr Rybontchouk, born in Ukraine in 1995. He joined the Legion in December 2015 to serve with the 1er REG. He died during a road accident.

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