Georgian volunteer dies in clashes with Russian troops in Ukraine

Tato Bigvava, a 27-year-old Georgian volunteer joining Ukrainian forces to defend the country against the ongoing Russian invasion, was killed in clashes with Russian troops in the Azovstal steelworks plant in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, Interpressnews agency said on Thursday.

His sister told Interpressnews the body of Bigvava had not been yet retrieved from the plant, adding President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had awarded her brother a month ago for his courage.

Bigvava was a citizen of Ukraine and enlisted in the Ukrainian Azov Battalion since 2014.

Bigvava's parents moved to Ukraine after the 1992-1993 war in Georgia’s now-Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia. The family has said they want to transport the body of the volunteer back to the western Georgian city of Zugdidi.