Russell Allan Wilson: Tributes for Australian soldier in Ukraine ‘killed just before wedding’

Tributes have flowed for an Australian soldier reportedly killed in Ukraine while fighting against the Russian invasion of that country.

Australian officials have been working to confirm reports that Russell Allan Wilson was killed by Russian forces near Pokrovsk, in Ukraine’s eastern region, in early December.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is aware of reports that an Australian has died in Ukraine and is seeking confirmation from local authorities,” a spokesperson said.

“The Australian Government’s travel advice is do not travel to Ukraine.”

DFAT would not confirm Mr Wilson’s name due to privacy obligations.

However, it’s understood Australian officials are providing consular assistance to his family, although the ability to do so is limited because Ukraine is an active warzone.

Social media posts said Mr Wilson died on either December 10 or December 12 after fighting in Ukraine since 2023.

A friend of Mr Wilson’s who fought with him early in the war told the ABC the Australian was killed on December 12.

“Russ was supposed to get married about a week after he was killed. It was his final mission before leave,” they said.

It is understood he had lived in Queensland and New South Wales before travelling to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

A post on social media eulogising Mr Wilson said the Australian did not die for “glory, medals or headlines”.

“He died because he believed some things are worth standing for — even when the cost is everything,” it read.

A handful of Australians have been killed in Ukraine since the invasion escalated four years ago.

They include Victorian man Sage O’Donnell who died in 2022.

“Sage died in action defending the freedom of the Ukrainian people . . . (he) has always believed in defending country, people and the right for freedom,” his mother, who was not named, said at the time.

Australian Trevor Kjeldal was also killed in 2022 in a mortar attack while fighting Russian forces in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

The ABC reported in 2022 Mr Kjeldal responded to calls for international help in defending Ukraine.

Russian forces captured Australian man Oscar Jenkins last year, and sentenced him in May to 13 years in a maximum security prison.

The reports on Mr Wilson came as Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year’s address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine, ‍saying he believed in them and in victory in a war that he has framed as part of an existential struggle with the West.

Putin spoke about Russia’s destiny and the unity of its people, ‍which he said guaranteed the sovereignty and security of the “Fatherland.”

His speech came as Russia released video footage of what it said was a downed drone, presenting it as evidence that Ukraine had tried this week to attack a presidential residence.

Moscow accused Ukraine of targeting Putin’s private home on Lake Valdai in north-west Russia.

Kyiv has dismissed Russia’s allegation as a lie designed to derail peace talks.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said “no one should accept unfounded claims from the aggressor who has indiscriminately targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilians.”

In another video released on Wednesday, Russia’s top general told troops to keep carving out buffer zones in Ukraine’s Sumy and Kharkiv regions and said Moscow’s forces had advanced faster in December than in any other month in 2025.

US President Donald ⁠Trump is trying to broker an end to the nearly four-year-old conflict, Europe’s bloodiest conflagration since World War II.

However both sides’ negotiating stances have remained far apart.