The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it is providing consular assistance to the family of a Mayo man who has been killed in Ukraine.

Finbar Cafferkey, a native of Achill Island was killed in eastern Ukraine in recent days. He had recently travelled to Ukraine to assist local forces there. The exact circumstances of his death have not been confirmed.

The Achill native, aged in his forties, was a military volunteer, with previous combat experience in Syria where he assisted Kurdish militia in their battle against ISIS.

Reports of Finbar’s death were confirmed by a family member, at the family home in Cashel, Achill, yesterday afternoon.

The community of Achill are numbed and saddened at Finbar’s tragic passing

His commitment to humanitarian and environmental causes was well known.