Robert Deegan, the 29-year-old Irishman killed while fighting for Ukraine, had been awarded a medal for bravery for his role in a battle against the Russians.
A former member of the Irish Army Ranger Wing, he served two stints in the Defence Forces and also travelled to Africa to work as a military contractor before going to Ukraine in 2022.
Beyond his military career, Mr Deegan was a high-performance cyclist from his teens to his early 20s, both on the road and then on the track with Dublin-based Arcane Cycling Team. He was progressing towards selection for Ireland before his military career took precedence.
Arcane Cycling Team told The Irish Times Deegan was “an immense talent on the bike, but you got the feeling that he would be good at anything he tried”.
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“He was fiercely proud of his Army background, but rarely discussed it in public,” the team said.
“He was very popular and fitted right in with the big group of young men and women that we had back then. He was also modest about his own achievements, both on and off the bike, and always available to help out the team.”
Mr Deegan, who was from Newbridge in Co Kildare, was assigned to a special forces unit in Ukraine once the military authorities in the country learned of his military background and that he was a former member of the elite Army Ranger Wing and a former firefighter.
“Typically in these conflicts, and the fight is really fierce there at the moment, your best people are the ones on the front line and that means they’re often the people that don’t get to come home,” said one source.
Several sources familiar with recent fighting in the Kharkiv region, where Mr Deegan was killed in action last Thursday, said the chaos in the area was complicating efforts to recover his remains.
“They are doing prisoner swaps and body swaps so that will give you an idea of the madness of it,” said one. “It could be a long time before his remains were returned”
Mr Deegan was killed near the city of Kupiansk in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine on the front line with Russia as he was covering the retreat of fellow soldiers. He had previously taken part in the recapture of the city from Russian forces during Ukraine’s counteroffensive in 2022.
Those who served with Mr Deegan described him as a committed soldier who placed the safety of his colleagues above his own and was unable or unwilling to settle down in civilian life.
[ Irish man killed fighting for Ukraine was ‘true to his principles’, says familyOpens in new window ]
After leaving the Irish Defence Forces, he signed up with a military contractor in northern Africa. He travelled there with his father John Deegan, who was also a former Defence Forces soldier and Army Ranger Wing member. In 2022 he signed up to fight in Ukraine and was assigned to Special Unit Stugna, a special forces unit.
Mr Deegan was awarded a medal for bravery by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in recognition of his service recapturing Kupiansk. The medal was made from gold which had originally been looted from the town by Russian forces before being recaptured.
He was severely injured in 2022 as he was travelling in an armoured vehicle through a minefield. Though he suffered serious facial injuries, including to his eye, he returned to Ireland for medical treatment before returning to Ukraine earlier this year against the wishes of his family.
“He was the best soldier I ever served with,” said one man who fought alongside Mr Deegan in Ukraine. “He always wanted to be a soldier, nothing else.”
Many foreigners have travelled to join Ukrainian or Russian forces in the war, which has raged since Russia’s invasion in 2022. Many who join the Ukrainian side fly into Poland before travelling by train to the border with Ukraine where they can present themselves to the authorities.
Once they effectively volunteer for military service their backgrounds are checked and those with military experience are fast-tracked into action while civilians undergo military training.
A number of people in Irish cycling described Mr Deegan as having a clear talent for road racing when he was a junior, under-18, often winning junior events and competing very strongly against much older senior riders.
He raced at a high-performance level on the domestic scene, and took a silver medal in the team sprint with Dublin-based Arcane Cycling Team at the National Track Championships in 2017.
Mr Deegan’s time in track cycling, and his progress up the ranks, coincided with developments in his career in the Defence Forces, specifically gaining a place in the Army Ranger Wing. Once a member of that elite unit, he gave up on his cycling career.
People in cycling remember him fondly, with one recalling him as a talented teenage cyclist but also someone with “a passion for the Army” because of his family’s history in the Defence Forces.
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