A former U.S. Navy SEAL who had not been on active duty since 2019 died this week in Ukraine, U.S. officials said Friday. They said he was fighting outside of any official US authority.
Daniel W. Swift, who was a Petty Officer 1st Class, was wounded in the Dnipro and died of his wounds, said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity about personnel matters.
There are no other details, including whether Swift's body was taken out of Ukraine.
The Navy said he left his post in San Diego, Calif., in March 2019. "We cannot speculate why the former sailor ended up in Ukraine," the Navy said.
At least five other Americans are known to have died fighting in Ukraine, according to statements from the State Department and reports from individual families.
Swift joined the US Navy in 2005 and was assigned to the SEAL unit in 2007. He voluntarily left the service in January 2014, but returned in 2015 and was assigned to the SEAL unit a year later. After he defected, the Naval Special Operations Command stripped him of his SEAL credentials—effectively banning him from wearing the SEAL trident.
Swift also had a brief stint — just over three months in 2015 — as a police officer in Medford, Oregon. Medford Deputy Police Chief Trevor Arnold did not have additional information Friday.
In 2020, he wrote a book called The Fall of Man. His Amazon page says he became a father in his 20s and "by the time he was 30, he had deployed five times in the US Navy, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen." It is added that he had four children.
The US government discourages Americans from fighting for Ukraine because of the risk of being captured and held hostage by Russian forces. At least 6,000 people contacted the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington during the first weeks of the war for information on how to volunteer on behalf of Ukraine.
Half of the potential volunteers were quickly rejected due to a lack of military experience, a criminal record or other unfitness for service, Ukraine's military attache said last year.
An unknown number of Americans have joined units of foreign fighters supporting Kyiv, including former military personnel. Others volunteer with aid groups and human rights organizations. The Biden administration has made it clear that no US military personnel are currently engaged in combat operations in Ukraine, although there are some serving at the embassy in Kyiv, including providing security and the office of the defense attache.
The State Department declined to be specific about Swift's death, but said in a statement that it could confirm the recent death of a US citizen in Ukraine.
We are in contact with his family and provide all possible consular assistance," the agency said.
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