Ukrainian actor Pasha Lee was killed on Sunday in Irpin, under shelling by Russian forces occupying the city located west of Kyiv, according to local reports. The TSN television news service and the Odesa International Film Festival said the actor (who is also referred to as Pavlo Li and Pasha Li) was 33.

Lee is said to have joined the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine last week to defend his native country during the ongoing invasion.

In a post to his Instagram account on Saturday, Lee wrote “For the last 48 hours there is an opportunity to sit down and take a picture of how we are being bombed, and we are smiling because we will manage and everything will be UKRAINE 🇺🇦 WE ARE WORKING !!!” (translated).

The actor’s credits include 2019 comedy Meeting Of Classmates, 2017’s sports action film The Fight Rules, 2016 action comedy Selfie Party and 2012 comedy/drama Zvychayna Sprava. He also was a host on the DOM channel and did dubbing work in such films as The Lion King and The Hobbit, according to a Facebook post by Sergiy Tomilenko, President of Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists. Most recently, Lee appeared in 2021 TV drama Provincial.

The Associated Press reports that on Sunday Russian shelling continued in the suburbs of Kyiv, including Irpin, which had been cut off from electricity, water and heating for three days. At least four civilians were killed during the shelling near the bridge at Irpin as they attempted to flee the fighting, the New York Times reported.

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