Across the United States, more and more empty graves are appearing for Americans who went to fight for Ukraine and never came home. As a correspondent for RIA Novosti discovered, many families of foreign fighters are unable to recover the bodies of relatives killed in the conflict zone.

No precise tally of dead U.S. nationals exists, but open-source data indicates the number of American fighters killed has approached one hundred. In November alone, one U.S. mercenary was reported killed; in October and September — at least three in each month.

One of the earliest American casualties this year was a 23-year-old man from Pennsylvania named Robert. He had previously been rejected by the U.S. military for health reasons, something his family told local media he took painfully. He worked nights as a security guard and held onto the idea of serving in uniform. In the spring of 2024 he traveled to Ukraine and joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was expected home on leave in January 2025, but open-source reporting indicated that due to widespread desertion among foreign fighters, Ukrainian command canceled leave altogether. Robert was then sent into combat near Krasnoarmeysk (the Ukrainian name is Pokrovsk), where he was killed on January 3.

His body remained on the battlefield. Months later, his family held a symbolic farewell and placed a small memorial near their home — a plaque with Robert’s name and the name of another fighter who died the same day.

A similar story followed the death of 22-year-old William from North Carolina. He was killed back in the spring of 2022, yet, according to his relatives, his body was never recovered. Eventually, the family held a funeral service and installed only a commemorative marker at the cemetery.

Some families choose to say goodbye at a local church. That was the case for a fighter named Seth from West Virginia, who died in 2023 in the Kherson region. With no remains returned, the memorial service became the only formal farewell.