"Only a miracle could have saved me": the network was struck by the farewell note of a 22-year-old Frenchman who died in the fighting for Ukraine. Photo

A farewell note written by 22-year-old International Legion fighter Andreas Gallozzi to his family has been shared online. In it, the French citizen, who went to defend Ukraine from the first days of the full-scale Russian invasion, noted that only a miracle could have saved him in the war, but he does not regret his choice.

The soldier was killed on February 16, 2023, in the battles near Novoselivske, Svatove district, Luhansk region. The last words of the defender on the anniversary of his death were posted on Facebook by his friend Oliver Jouet, and translated into Ukrainian by Yelyzaveta Yuhnova.

Andreas Gallozzi, a native of the Yonne department in Burgundy, was only 22 years old. His friends say that he always wanted to be a soldier, and in 2020 he joined the French 17th Parachute Regiment.

In 2022, the young man left France to defend democracy, Ukraine, Ukrainians, and Europe. In the International Legion, where Andreas received the call sign "Frenchie," his fellow soldiers noted that he was determined and happy to do his duty.

In phone conversations with his mother Edith, her son kept saying: "Mom, I am happy where I am now. I know why I came here. I understand what I am doing." And one day on the front line, he told her: "Mom, it's 14-18 in the twenty-first century."

His great-uncle, whose story Andreas and other members of his family had heard and knew well, died during the fighting in 1918, saying in the end, "It's all right."

In Andreas Gallozzi's personal belongings, which were returned to the family by his fellow members of the International Legion, his mother found a note instructing the family where to look for his last words on the phone. In the "note it's too late" the soldier wrote:

"War is the curse of humanity because war never dies. There will always be just causes for which it is worth fighting and dying if necessary, fighting against the madmen who want to destroy everything around them for the sake of their own ego... Nothing else but trifles."

And then Andreas added another note titled "Last Words," indicating that the following text was inspired by letters from French soldiers in World War I. The foreigner's friend noted that he had voluntarily chosen the text, perhaps because it affected him the most, so the soldier adapted the phrases, adding his own words.

"Last words" by Andreas Gallozzi:

"My dearest mother, my dear family, my loyal friends. For me, the war is over, but I have no regrets, I have seen enough heroism and horror.

I pray that your fate will be more merciful. Our life is short. I am grateful to heaven for all the joys, happiness and trials that fate has prepared for me.

My life has been wonderful and almost full.

These few words will be my last. I lived my last hours looking through all the photos with you, my precious memories.

Only a miracle could have saved me. I knew that this mission could have been too dangerous, but I am a stubborn man, I did not want to leave my friends to go alone in the center of this hell.

War makes people crazy. I did my duty, I defended the honor of France, Ukraine, and Europe. I do not feel any remorse about going to Ukraine, I have found the meaning of my life and my beliefs. The only thing I regret is perhaps that I did not have time to love someone with all my heart.

I hope you will find the strength to forgive me, and the Lord would like to perhaps unite us in heaven or elsewhere by separating us on this earth.

Don't ever forget the soldiers who died for the right cause.

I will never forget you, I love you."

The International Legion fighter wrote these words on February 1, 2023. Two weeks later, Andreas was killed in action against the Russian invaders in eastern Ukraine.

"Tomorrow it will be exactly one year since Andreas died in combat against the Russians. Tomorrow his mother Edith will be on the Maidan in Kyiv, and at the same time Remy and others will be at the cemetery where Andreas is buried in France," wrote a friend of the defender in a post dated February 16, 2024.

As OBOZ.UA reported, in the summer of 2022, a 20-year-old International Legion fighter Adrian D. from France died. He was injured as a result of Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region and was in a coma for some time. His heart stopped in a field hospital in the frontline region of Ukraine.

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