A pro-Russia separatist court in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, has charged five foreign nationals, including a Swede, a Croat and a Brit, captured fighting alongside the Ukrainian forces with being mercenaries. According to Russian media the three could face a possible death sentence. We recall that authorities in Dontesk in June sentenced to death two British citizens and a Moroccan but didn’t apply the sentence yet. According to some reports, Ukrainian artillery has struck the headquarters of Russia’s shadowy Wagner paramilitary group of mercenaries in eastern Ukraine. The Wagner group was deployed to Crimea and Ukraine’s Donbas region in 2014, when Russia-backed forces ousted Ukrainian soldiers from areas they later declared to be part of Russia. Wagner units have also been deployed to Syria, Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic. Western intelligence links the group to Russian oligarch Yevgheny Prigozhin, who was dubbed Putin’s chef as his catering business has long helped President Putin and his armed forces.
