EXCLUSIVE Read the tragic last messages from the Aussie tradie feared dead in in Ukraine - and the little white lies he told his parents to stop them worrying

Daily Mail​

15-05-2025

An Australian tradie feared killed by Russian forces had told his family he was studying at a German university while actually fighting on the frontline in Ukraine.
Queenslander Caleb List opened up in a series of haunting messages to Daily Mail Australia in the months before he vanished and is now feared dead.
He had been serving in the Ukrainian army since 2022 after he had been rejected from joining the Australian military, he said.
The 25-year-old from Gladstone is believed to have died last month after being hit by artillery fire in a contested territory near the city of Izyum, in the Kharkiv region.
Since enlisting, Mr List had sent encrypted messages from Ukraine's trenches to Daily Mail Australia journalist Jonica Bray to give updates on his time in the war-ravaged country.
In them, he revealed the real reason he was risking his life to fight for Ukraine, why he was a prized target for Russia, and why he kept it all secret from his parents.
'It's not as crazy as most people think,' he said about what day-to-day was like in a warzone that's seen almost one million killed or wounded.
'There are scary moments and bad thing happen around Ukraine every day, but it's a normal country and it still has to operate like one.
'The only thing is there's a giant war in the background.'
Thousands of foreign fighters like Mr List had signed up to help defend Ukraine, despite warnings from their governments, including Australia, not to travel there.
The Aussie tradie spent anywhere from days to weeks in the trenches where he was heavily armed, alongside both local soldiers and other foreign legion members of the army.
'It could be quiet. We could get bombed or the trench could get assaulted,' he said.
'Then I come home to the back lines, I do some training, eat some food, work on hobbies, call and message family, friends and other loved ones.
'Kind of like what normal people do on their weekends. Then, the cycle repeats itself.'
He said he volunteered to defend Ukraine - which he'd never visited previously - after being shunned by the Australian Defence Force.
Despite that setback, Mr List decided to head to Europe in 2022 to fulfill his lifelong dream of one day becoming a soldier and see military action.
His initial plan was to join the French Foreign Legion, but while on his way to France to sign up, Russia invaded Ukraine, and his whole life changed.
While on a drunken binge in Poland, Mr List crossed the border where he spotted a tent with the sign 'Legionnaire.'
He enrolled and then admitted he blacked out in a drunken stupor for the rest of the day.
That night the entire base was blown up in an artillery attack and Mr List and others had to flee into the neighbouring forest to take cover.
After about a month of basic training, he was transferred to the frontline, but kept the news from his family.
Mr List said he used various encrypted apps to communicate because he believed that as an Australian, he had a bounty on his head.
'It puts my life in danger if they know where I am,' he said. 'I just become a target on pro-Russian Telegram [messaging apps] groups.'
Mr List's last messages were received in March, just a few weeks before he is believed to have been killed in April.
In those messages, Mr List revealed his parents still did not know he was back in combat.
'I went back to the front again. I have some more scars, but I'm good living the dream,' he said.
'At the moment my parents think that I am studying over in Germany.
'I will tell them soon. But at the moment there are bigger family problems to deal with than my choice in profession.'
It's believed this was Mr List's third stint in a job that he insisted 'pays well' at $3.900 per month with a 'combat bonus' of $2,698 for every 30 days you are on the frontline.
'That's triple the average Ukrainian wage,' he said.
With no family connections, heritage or affiliations with the Ukraine, Mr List said he was used to people asking him why he's there, but after three years he was still unsure how to reply.
'Why I'm still here? It is not a fully easy question to answer,' he admitted to Daily Mail Australia.
'There are several things that make me stay here and choose to continue to serve under the Ukrainian Army.
'But it seems quite selfish to leave all my Ukrainian friends behind to deal with a war.
'I'll stay until I'm ready to leave.'
Mr List's uncle Michael Connolly spoke to media on Thursday and said the family is devastated by news of his likely death, but had not yet given up all hope.
'We're all in a bit of shock and we all are waiting on news to come out of the area,' Mr Connolly said.