Three American mercenaries with 'USA flag in backpack' killed in Ukraine - Russian media

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Unconfirmed reports from Russian media claim that three American mercenaries have been killed in a Kremlin-backed breakaway region of Ukraine — with soldiers said to have 'found a US flag'

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Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, said last week that western powers sending mercenaries and military equipment to aid Ukraine would be a "catastrophic development".

And Vladimir Putin warned nations at the beginning of his 'special military operation' that any attempt to "interfere" in the war between his country and Ukraine would result in “consequences greater than any you have faced in history”.

Russia have themselves been accused of using mercenaries during the war, with soldiers hired from the Wagner Group allegedly sent on several missions to assassinate Ukrainian president Volodomir Zelensky.

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Russian media has claimed three American mercenaries have been killed in Ukraine. Unconfirmed reports from Pravda, a news website with connections to the Kremlin and a pro-Putin stance, reported on Friday afternoon that the three men from US had died in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.

A statement from a militia in Donetsk on the American mercenaries said: “In a backpack near the remains of one of the militants, a Tennessee flag of the United States was found, as well as other items that made it possible to identify the deceased”

The claims of hired soldiers being used could signal a major new escalation should Russia decide to present them as evidence of foreign military involvement in the conflict.

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Defence minister Sergei Shoigu also claimed there were around 16,000 volunteers from the Middle East, including Syria, who were ready to support Russian separatists in the Donbass region

Responding to the claims said: "If you see that there are these people who want of their own accord, not for money, to come to help the people living in Donbas, then we need to give them what they want and help them get to the conflict zone."

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