A US citizen recognized to have fought with pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine between 2014 and 2017 has been killed in Moscow-occupied Donetsk, in response to Russian media experiences.
Russia-installed authorities in japanese Ukraine had earlier this month reported the American – 64-year-old Russell Bentley – as lacking.
“Russell Bentley, often called ‘Texas’, an actual American, really from Texas, was killed in Donetsk,” Margarita Simonyan, head of the pro-Kremlin RT TV channel, mentioned on social media.
“He was preventing for our guys,” she mentioned. Simonyan gave no particulars on how he died.
The “Vostok” battalion with which Bentley fought confirmed his loss of life, calling for “exemplary punishment for many who killed Russell Bentley”, suggesting he didn’t die in a Ukrainian assault.
Police in Donetsk mentioned on 8 April that Bentley had gone lacking after going to assist victims of a Ukrainian strike on Donetsk.
On a Telegram channel beforehand run by him, Bentley’s spouse, Lyudmila, mentioned he had been “kidnapped” by Russian troopers from a tank battalion, and referred to as on them to let him go.
The self-declared communist joined pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine to struggle Kyiv in 2014. He later additionally labored for the state-owned Russian information company Sputnik and was given Russian nationality.