The Itamaraty confirmed this Thursday (9) the death of Brazilian André Hack Bahi, who was 43 years old, during the Ukrainian War. He acted as a rescuer for the country’s International Defense Legion in Eastern Europe since February 28, shortly after Russia began its invasion of the neighboring nation.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs received, through the Brazilian embassy in Kiev, confirmation of the death of a Brazilian national in Ukrainian territory as a result of the conflict in that country and maintains contact with family members to provide them with all appropriate assistance, in accordance with international treaties in force and with local legislation”, says the note. The ministry says that it “continues to strongly advise against” Brazilians going to the region until the conflict ends.
This Thursday morning, a Brazilian diplomat in Kiev contacted Bahi’s family to report the death of the Porto Alegre-born gaucho. His body is said to be in a morgue in the Severodonetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Now, Brazilian authorities are negotiating the transfer of the body.
According to Tatiane Hack Bahi, the sister of the Brazilian shot in Ukraine, the family suspected that something had happened on June 3, when he did not get in touch to congratulate his mother on her birthday. Two days later, reports emerged that Bahi had been killed in a conflict in the Lugansk region.
According to a military officer who commanded the group with which the Brazilian worked, the fighters were divided and positioned in two buildings. One of the buildings was bombed, and Bahi went there to rescue comrades. He managed to save one. The building continued to be under heavy fire, and he was reportedly shot when trying to run from where he was. Afterwards, his body was dragged to a rescue point.
Bahi grew up in Eldorado do Sul, in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, where most of his family still lives. After serving in the Army, he, defined by the sisters as “a great adventurer”, served as a security guard and rescuer and attended college of nursing.
He lived in Iceland, where he worked on fishing vessels, and in France, where he enlisted in the Foreign Legion. According to his sister Letícia Hack Bahi, in 2017, during an action in Ivory Coast, he was seriously injured and spent four months hospitalized in France. He returned to Rio Grande do Sul in what was the last period he spent with his family in southern Brazil. As one of the sequels, Bahi had “transient memory” and did not remember much of his childhood and adolescence.
Shortly before the pandemic, she went to live in Ceará, where she completed her nursing school. There, she began a relationship and had a daughter, now three years old. In February, he moved to Portugal and worked there as an app driver. Plans changed due to the conflict in Ukraine.
He then returned to look for the French Foreign Legion, but, as the group did not engage in the war, he left the legion and informed the family that he would embark for Eastern Europe. “Everyone asks me: but what did André do there? A war that has nothing to do with Brazil. But he was like that. He said to me: ‘You’ll see, I’ll come back full of medals for saving a lot of people'”, said Letícia.
Recently, Bahi said he was impressed by the barbarism in the country, reported in videos and photos. At the same time, he was also proud to fight and cultivate friendships with other volunteers from all over the world. To his sister, he sent Ukrainian citizenship documents, recognition for fighting for the country.
The Brazilian left a lot of children to the point that the family sometimes lost count. Four are registered in his name. He has an 18-year-old son from his first marriage and two teenagers from his second, in Eldorado do Sul. From his most recent relationship, he has the aforementioned three-year-old daughter who lives in Quixadá, in the interior of Ceará. In addition to them, Bahi would have three other daughters, one of them in Iceland.
According to Letícia, the family is studying cremating his body and scattering the ashes on a beach in Ceará.
