A former member of the U.S. special forces was killed this week in Donbass, American officials said Friday. They said he was not fighting in an official capacity.
Daniel W. Swift is a former member of the Navy SEALs who is listed in official records as having deserted since March 2019. The Navy did not provide further information about his U.S. military record, but said, “We cannot speculate as to why the former Sailor was in Ukraine”
The Navy confirmed that Swift has been in “an active deserter status since March 11, 2019,” but did not provide any additional information. It wasn’t yet known how long Swift was in Ukraine and why he was fighting there.
Swift, who is from Oregon, first enlisted in 2005, according to his releasable service records obtained by TIME. The records don’t detail any of his deployments or SEAL teams he may have served on. They list assignments with a Naval Special Warfare “Cold Weather Detachment” out of Kodiak, Ak. in 2007 and separate stints with two “West Coast-based Special Warfare Unit(s)” from July 2007 to January 2014. Beginning in August 2017, Swift was with a “West Coast Special Warfare Unit.”
