Relative of former HNK Prime Minister killed on the battlefield in Ukraine

(Patria) - Antonio Toni Herceg, son of scientist Zdenko Herceg and relative of former HNK Prime Minister Nevenko Herceg, was killed on May 6 on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine.

The news was published by the portal Mostar.live, citing a source close to the family, reports Slobodna Dalmacija.

Toni Herceg, who came from a prominent Herzegovinian family that had settled in Lyon, France, since the war years in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was a professional soldier in the French army.

It is not specified whether it was the Foreign Legion, but it is known that he later joined the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian army.

His friends emphasize that he carried a deep love for his parents' native regions - Ljubuški and Rama, Croatian tradition, and Christian values throughout his life.

As an officer in the French army, he distinguished himself in peacekeeping missions around the world, fighting for justice and the protection of innocents.



In the last moments of his life, according to the testimony of his comrades, he protected the members of the unit he commanded with his body, saving them and the wounded from immediate death, writes Herc.info.

The final farewell was marked by military honors and a mass in the Kyiv Cathedral and on Maidan, as well as in France.

Toni, a Croat from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a hero of Ukraine, will be buried in the Miroševac cemetery in Zagreb on Tuesday, May 27.

According to information published by former French intelligence officer Nicolas Cinquini, Herceg was killed during fighting in the Luhansk region.

Cinquini, known for his pro-Russian rhetoric, claims it was a "futile counter-attack" and calls the brigade an "offshoot of Azov" - a claim not confirmed by independent sources.

Neither institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina nor the French army have issued official statements so far, writes Slobodna Dalmacija.