Mark Paslawsky (1959 - 20 August 2014), better known by his nom de guerre of Franko, was an American volunteer in the Donbass Battalion of the Ukrainian Army. A cheerful man from New York City, he was of Ukrainian descent and headed to Ukraine to assist in the defeat of the rebels in the Donbass War. He was prominently featured in a VICE News interview which detailed his life and experience in the war. On 20 August 2014, he was unfortunately killed by artillery strikes in Ilovaisk by rebels and Russian mercenaries.
Biography[]
Franko in August 2014
Mark Paslawsky was born in New York City, New York, United States in 1959 to a family of Ukrainian immigrants, and he graduated from West Point during the 1980s; he served in the US Army Rangers until 1991, giving him some military experience. Paslawsky never had a wife or children, and he instead devoted his life to the financial sector, working as an investment banker in both the USA and Ukraine. After the February 2014 Ukrainian Revolution and the Donbass War's breakout shortly after, he headed to Ukraine to enlist in the Donbass Battalion, a volunteer unit of the government forces that fought against Russian mercenaries and Kremlin-backed guerrillas. He took on the codename "Franko" after the Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko, and fought for the Donbas Battalion in Ilovaisk in August. While trying to free the town of Iloviask, he was mortally wounded with three artillery wounds, and he became the first foreign casualty on the Ukrainian side.