The chief of Russian paramilitary group Wagner informed CNN on Thursday that he has handed the physique of Nicholas Maimer, a retired US Military Particular Forces soldier who was killed within the battle for Bakhmut, over to Ukraine.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, when requested by CNN if Wagner had returned the physique of Retired Military Employees Sgt. Maimer as promised by Prigozhin final week, mentioned in an audio recording: “As we speak at 15:00 hours we handed over the physique of the American Nicholas Maimer to the Ukrainian facet.”
Maimer was in a constructing in Bakhmut that collapsed after being hit by artillery hearth, in response to Retired Lt. Col. Perry Blackburn, founding father of the non-profit AFGFree, with which Maimer was working in Ukraine.
Ukrainians who have been with Maimer believed he was both trapped within the collapsed constructing or killed by a “barrage” of Russian artillery hearth, Blackburn mentioned. CNN can not independently confirm particulars of Maimer’s demise.
In a video shared with CNN by Prigozhin’s press service, the Wagner boss is seen standing subsequent to 2 coffins, one draped with an American flag and one with a Turkish flag, and says: “The American died in battle within the ‘nest’” – one of many final contested areas in west Bakhmut – and added that the second coffin contained the physique of a Turkish citizen who was in Bakhmut together with his feminine accomplice.
“They have been discovered below the ruins of a constructing, or extra precisely he and his paperwork. When the Ukrainians withdrew they blew up the constructing, they usually died below the destroyed constructing. We weren’t capable of get her out, however we acquired him out and can return to his motherland,” Prigozhin says of the Turkish residents. CNN can not independently confirm the situation within the video or the date it was filmed.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Remedy of Prisoners of Struggle confirmed to CNN that Maimer’s physique, together with the physique of a Turkish citizen, had been returned to Ukraine on Thursday throughout a POW change. A video shared by the group confirmed a coffin coated with an American flag which matched the coffin seen within the video with Prigozhin.
CNN is unable to independently verify that the coffin accommodates Maimer’s physique. After his demise final week, Prigozhin claimed to indicate the physique of an American in a video posted on the Wagner Telegram group.
A professional-Kremlin army blogger, Alexander Simonov, introduces the video saying “we’re advancing to the superior positions of the PMC Wagner within the western areas of Artyomovsk,” the Russian title for Bakhmut. Prigozhin is proven inspecting a physique, and what he claims are US identification paperwork.
Prigozhin says, “So we’ll hand him over to america of America, we’ll put him in a coffin, cowl him with the American flag with respect as a result of he didn’t die in his mattress as a grandpa however he died at warfare and almost definitely a worthy [death], proper?”
CNN can not confirm the authenticity of what’s proven within the video, and Maimer’s household didn’t return CNN’s request for remark. Nevertheless, Maimer’s uncle Paul confirmed to the Idaho Statesman that the physique within the video was that of Maimer.
CNN’s Rob Picheta, Josh Pennington, Sandi Sidhu, Jennifer Hansler, Haley Britzky and Alex Marquardt contributed reporting
This text was initially printed by cnn.com. Learn the unique article right here.
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