Kacper Bass

According to Onet, Kacper Bass had been fighting in the war for over three years, seeing combat in many key sectors of the frontline, including participating in incursions into Russian territory. 

The military was an integral part of Bass’ entire adult life. After unsuccessfully attempting to join the Polish army, he signed up for the French Foreign Legion at the age of 19, which later inspired his call sign. After his contract with the Legion expired, he returned to Poland. He joined Ukraine’s International Legion in October 2022.  

He first saw combat in Ukraine in autumn of that year, fighting near Svatove and Kupiansk, and later in the Donbas.  

In March 2023, he volunteered for deployment to Bakhmut during the final stages of one of the bloodiest and longest battles of the war. There, he was responsible for coordinating drone reconnaissance with mortar shelling of enemy positions.  

He was also engaged in combat during one of Ukrainian forces’ incursions into Russia’s border Belgorod region.  

He sustained numerous combat injuries and was awarded the Medal for Military Valor and the Armed Forces Cross of Valor. 

Comrades described him as fearless and impulsive in combat, while also praising his effectiveness as a soldier, capable of seizing the initiative in the most difficult moments. 

“For what ‘Frantsuz’ did, he should get the ‘Hero of Ukraine’ medal,” one Polish volunteer, call sign ‘Hagrid,’ told Onet.  

On the day they received news of ‘Frantsuz’s’ passing, Ukrainian soldiers honored his memory by inscribing artillery shells with his call sign, the date and time of his death and subsequently fired them into Russian positions.  

“To honor your friend, we’re throwing a real rave for them today,” the artillerymen wrote to one of the Polish volunteers. 

Bass received the call sign "Frenchman" because he had served in the French Foreign Legion.

It is currently unknown whether he had close relatives in Poland.

***

As Ukrinform reported, in May 2025 a 45-year-old volunteer from Poland, journalist Krzysztof Gorzelak, was killed in the war against the Russian aggressor.

On January 30, 2025, Kyiv held a farewell ceremony for 19-year-old volunteer from Poland Filip Antosiak, who was killed near Pokrovsk in Donetsk region.