File image. Photo: AFPTV / AFP
RNZ understands a New Zealander fighting on the front line in Ukraine has been killed in action.
Sources there say they have been told by the man's unit commander that the soldier was killed in a battle in the east of the country.
Kane Te Tai, a former New Zealand Defence Force soldier, had been in Ukraine for almost a year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of reports of his death.
He is the third New Zealander to be killed in Ukraine.
Dominic Abelen died fighting there last August and his body has still not been recovered.
He was on leave without pay from the army at the time.
Aid worker Andrew Bagshaw was killed by artillery fire in January while trying to rescue an elderly woman from her house.