Tseng Sheng-guang
Tseng Sheng-guang, also known as Jonathan Tseng (Amis: Sincyang Diway), was born on September 12, 1997, in Ji’an, Hualien, Taiwan. He came from the Sakizaya Indigenous group and grew up in Taiwan. He joined the Taiwanese Army in 2016, served as a corporal, and was honorably discharged in 2021.
In June 2022, Tseng volunteered to help Ukraine defend itself and joined the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine. He later joined the Carpathian Sich Battalion, which became the 49th Infantry Battalion of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. He fought in eastern Ukraine, including the Donbas region.
On November 2, 2022, during fighting near Kreminna in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Tseng was mortally wounded by a mortar. He was 25 years old and became the first East Asian soldier killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War. His teammate Trevor Kjeldal was killed in the same battle.
Tseng received posthumous honors from Ukraine, including the Order for Courage of the third class. Taiwan and Ukraine officials publicly mourned him. His family later donated his Ukrainian belongings to Taiwan’s National Museum of History. He is remembered as someone who believed in justice and helped protect civilians.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:27 (CET).