Oles Sanin, a Ukrainian filmmaker, visits Christopher James Campbell’s grave at Lukianivske Cemetery in Kyiv and replaces the American flag there every six months. Campbell, a veteran of the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, arrived in Ukraine shortly after the full‑scale Russian invasion in 2022. He first worked as a military instructor before joining the International Legion, a unit composed of foreign volunteers. He was killed in an assault near Bakhmut in April 2023, according to Alex Peterson, a former American soldier who recruited him. Campbell told his fiancée Ivanna Sanina‑Wininger that he wanted to be buried in Ukraine, saying the country had become his home, and asked that an American flag be flown at his grave as a sign of support for Ukraine. Every Sunday his family, including his father Oles Sanin, visits the gravesite to clean the area, replace or water flowers, and replace the flag when it fades. Sanin, a filmmaker, said preserving the memory of Campbell and maintaining the flag were ways to keep his contribution alive. Ukraine has created multiple mechanisms to recognize foreign combatants. In May 2025 the government held a Memorial Day ceremony at St. Sophia Cathedral, where the national anthems of the United States and Ukraine were sung and the estimated 118 Americans who died in Ukraine were commemorated. The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War opened the “For Freedom” exhibition in 2024, displaying medals, flags, photographs and other personal items contributed by the R.T. Weatherman Foundation. The exhibition, which was initially planned for six months, was extended through the end of 2025 after attracting nearly 120,000 visitors in the previous year and more than 60,000 visitors so far in 2025. Visitors include relatives of foreign fighters, who may request that items be added to the display. The museum records the stories of the donors and plans to use the materials for future exhibitions both in Ukraine and abroad, said museum spokeswoman Lyudmyla Melnyk. Since August 2024 the National Military Memorial Cemetery, modeled after Arlington National Cemetery, has conducted burials of foreign fighters with full military honors. Cemetery spokeswoman Lesya Kachor said citizenship is irrelevant, noting that individuals who contributed directly to combat operations may be interred alongside Ukrainian defenders. The cemetery has interred fighters from the United States, Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Russia and other nations. Scholars note that the United States has supplied the largest number of foreign volunteers. David Malet, an associate professor at American University, said Americans appear to have served in greater numbers than any other nationality. He said Ukraine’s practice of openly honoring foreign fighters is unusual in modern conflicts. Malet expects that public recognition of these volunteers will continue after the war, supporting Ukraine’s efforts to deepen ties with Western institutions such as the European Union and NATO. Exact figures on the total number of foreign fighters remain difficult to verify, but Ukraine continues to publicize their contributions as part of its broader narrative of international solidarity.