Who was Kane Te Tai? Wikipedia, Biography, Age, New Zealand Soldier, Killed in Ukraine
Kane Te Tai Wikipedia – Kane Te Tai Biography
Kane Te Tai, a New Zealand soldier who co-founded a veteran’s charity, has been killed in Ukraine, authorities said.
He helped register the No Duff Charitable Trust to support veterans in crisis.
According to New Zealand’s defence ministry, Te Tai served as an army soldier from 2002 until 2009.
Age
He was 38 years old.
New Zealand Soldier Killed in Ukraine
The former New Zealand soldier who drew an online following with his dispatches from the frontline of the Ukraine war has been killed in fighting there.
The death of Kane Te Tai, 38, was confirmed by New Zealand’s foreign ministry Thursday, citing Ukrainian government sources.
Te Tai, who fought with the International Legion, is the third New Zealander known to have died in Ukraine.
For many in New Zealand, Te Tai was the face of the country’s unofficial involvement in Ukraine’s war. He fundraised for equipment and undertook news interviews before he left New Zealand in May 2022, and documented his friendships, battles and daily life on Instagram and Facebook.
A video he posted earlier this month recorded when he was unexpectedly reunited with a Ukrainian friend who had been held hostage for months by Russian troops and whom Te Tai recognised when the man began to call out, “New Zealand! New Zealand!”
“My brother!” Te Tai replied.
Last April, Te Tai told TVNZ that he would leave his job at a construction hire company and travel to Ukraine “to help in any capacity I can.”
He was one of several foreign fighters – estimated to be in the low thousands – who have travelled to the conflict since Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed for volunteers from abroad last February.
Igor Gavrylko on the main street of Lviv, Ukraine
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At least eight Britons, seven Americans and four Georgians are among those who have died in the war against Russia.
Te Tai – who served for almost a decade in New Zealand’s army, including in Afghanistan – had posted tributes on social media to members of the International Legion who had died. Last month, he was interviewed in a CNN story about the group – using his call sign, Turtle – where he was credited as his unit’s leader. The story showed the group training recruits near the embattled town of Vuhledar, close to the frontline.
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On Wednesday, New Zealand’s prime minister Chris Hipkins told reporters that the war in Ukraine was “unjust” and “an illegal invasion by Russia.” But he urged New Zealanders not to travel there.
Te Tai had read online of an NZD 11m reward for his death offered by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Wood said.
“He joked about turning himself in so he could collect it.”
On Sunday, Te Tai told Wood in WhatsApp messages that after 10 months of combat, he had been training his replacement and intended to leave Ukraine for good in the next fortnight.
“He wrote, ‘That’s enough war for me,’” Wood said. He added that Te Tai loved Ukraine but wrote: “Before the game gets me or before I just decide that life here is too easy, maybe it’s time to start living my real life.”
