The Spanish Juan Luis Amador Matías, 38 years old, passed away last Saturday in Ukraine, where he was working as a volunteer for the Ukrainian Army, as confirmed by sources from the deceased's family to elmundo.es.
Originally from Villapalacios (Albacete), a town of about 550 inhabitants where everyone knows each other, as explained in a phone conversation by the deputy mayor of the municipality, José Luis García Algaba, the deceased had been working for the Ukrainian Army for a year. "Juan Luis started in the ranks of Ukraine last October. From the information I have, they are given a contract for three or six months and it gets renewed. In one of those renewals, he was here, just before the patron saint festivities, which are on September 14. He was visiting his parents and his daughter, and on the 8th or 9th, he had to leave to join the ranks."
Juan Luis Amador had military training, as he had been part of the Spanish Army for many years, "until his contract ended, and he dedicated himself to other things, but he was always very connected to the Army," explains the deputy mayor. Some Colombian friends, he adds, convinced him to go to Ukraine with them a year ago.
Although he was very sociable and talked a lot with his fellow villagers when he visited Villapalacios, he did not give details about what he was doing exactly in Ukraine. "To his mother, he mainly said he was fine, that he was not in a dangerous place," he explains.
According to the information gathered at the Town Hall, in Ukraine, José Luis had specialized in drone operation, although last Saturday, as his family has recounted, he was participating in a rescue mission for the wounded when he was attacked. "He was detected by a Russian drone and was shot down."
The municipal team is now focused on assisting Juan Luis's family, his parents, and his brother, in helping them expedite the procedures so that the body can be repatriated as soon as possible. "We have contacted all the administrations we could and they are all helping. We are waiting for responses from both the Spanish and Ukrainian embassies," says the deputy mayor. "We don't know if the body is still on the battlefield or if they have been able to remove it from there," he adds.
"His father was given the news on Saturday afternoon, that he had been killed," also explains a family acquaintance to this newspaper. "He had already been in Ukraine a few months ago but he came back and was here in Villapalacios for a few days at the beginning of September. It seems he thought about it and left again. He had been there for about two weeks," confirming the young man's recent visit to the town.
The deceased, who after leaving the Spanish Army had worked in various sectors - such as a mobile phone salesperson, for example - had a 14-year-old daughter
"Villapalacios mourns the loss of Juan Luis Amador Matías, killed in the war in Ukraine," reported the Unidad Pastoral Juan XXIII, a religious organization in the municipality. "Villapalacios is experiencing one of the saddest moments in recent times today. Juan Luis Amador Matías, a native of our town of Villapalacios, who had recently returned to the Ukrainian army after spending time with his family, was shot down by a drone while participating in a rescue mission for the wounded on the war front in Ukraine," states a Facebook post.
"The news has caused deep shock among neighbors, friends, and family, who still had vivid memories of his recent presence in the town. The entire community now joins in grief and solidarity with his family, awaiting the repatriation as soon as possible so that Juan Luis can rest in peace in his homeland," it continues.
"With this loss, Villapalacios feels even closer the barbarity and senselessness of a war that only leads to hatred, death, and suffering. What seemed like a distant tragedy has now become an open wound in the heart of our community. From here, the entire town unites in one voice: all with Juan Luis's family, hoping that his memory will always be a seed of peace," concludes.