Main image: International Volunteers for Ukraine
Luca Checca, who had been considered missing since December 2024, died while fighting on the side of Ukraine. He is already the seventh volunteer from Italy who became a victim of Russian aggression.
This was reported by ANSA.
34-year-old Luca Checca, a native of Rome, was an Italian volunteer who took part in combat operations on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was last heard from in 2024. Since December, he had been officially listed as missing in Donetsk region. On August 25, 2025, his death was confirmed.
Luca Checca is the seventh Italian citizen whose death in the war with Russia has been publicly confirmed.
Deaths of Italian volunteers in the war in Ukraine
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, at least seven Italian citizens who fought on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been killed. Among them:
- Thomas D’Alba — a former soldier who died in Sumy. His death was confirmed in July 2025.
- Antonio Omar Dridi — a 35-year-old volunteer from Palermo who went missing in March 2025. His death was confirmed in May 2025.
- Manuel Mameli — a 25-year-old volunteer from Cagliari who was killed in May 2025 as a result of a Russian drone attack near Pokrovsk.
- Angelo Costanzi — detailed information about his death is currently unavailable.
- Massimiliano Galletti — a 59-year-old rescuer who died after being wounded by a grenade in November 2024.
- Benjamin Giorgio Galli — a 27-year-old volunteer who was killed in September 2022 near Kharkiv while fighting in the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine
