The Ukrainian military is planning to hold a farewell ceremony in Kyiv to honor Tseng Sheng-guang (曾聖光), a Hualien County-native who died fighting for Ukraine last week.

“He proved himself as a disciplined, balanced, brave warrior,” Vasylyna Nakonechna, a press officer at the military’s Carpathian Sich Battalion, said on Wednesday.

Tseng, 25, was a member of the International Legion of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces. He died during a combat mission in the contested Luhansk region on Wednesday last week, making him the first Taiwanese volunteer combatant to die in the Ukraine war.