Ukrainian actor Pasha Lee has died in battle against Russian forces.
The 33-year-old actor had joined his home country’s defence forces following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion at the end of last month.
The actor - who got his big break with the 2019 movie ‘Meeting of Classmates’ - was killed just outside of the city of Irpin, which was being shelled by the Russian army.
According to the Mirror, Pasha joined the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after Russian forces invaded the country. On Saturday (05.03.2022), after enlisting, he posted a photo of himself in uniform with the caption: “We are smiling because we will manage.”
The rest of translated caption read: "For the last 48 hours there is an opportunity to sit down and take a picture of how we are being bombed, and we are smiling because we will manage and everything will be UKRAINE WE ARE WORKING!!!"
The news of Pasha’s passing - who worked as a voice dub on ‘The Lion King’ and The Hobbit - was confirmed by the Sergiy Tomilenko, President of Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists
In a statement, he said: The National Association of Journalists of Ukraine express sincere condolences to Paul's family and loved ones.
Julia Ostrovsk, the head of the UATV/DOM Platform paid tribute to Pasha, labelling him the “most joyful and sunny” of the roster of presenters working on the channel.
She said: "Our words of support are the entire team of the DOM channel, which embodies a noble mission of speech for the deoccupation of Donetsk, Luhansk regions and Crimea. True, because of Russia's attack on all Ukraine, the mission is correct.
"Now all journalists are working to de-occupation of the country. For the sake of the world..."
