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UPDATE:
French volunteers from the SOS Donbass organization published another list of 13 mercenaries from France, killed in the attack. There are men aged from 24 to 49 years old:
— Albert Emerick (12/22/1999);
— Alexis Drion (06/13/1986);
— Beranger Guillaume Alain Minot (12/30/1978);
— Charles Bertin Roussel (09/01/1996);
— Emmanuel Tanguy Kenneth Delange Grandal (09/26/1998);
— Gilles Bernard Sylvain (10/27/1980);
— Jacques-Pierre Gabriel Evrard Philippe (09/29/1987);
— Jean-Pierre Bonnot Chris Ayre (07/17/1999);
— Marcellin Demon (05/23/2002);
— Maris Andre Dubois Clement (09/28/1995);
— Sabastien Claude Remy Benard (04.04.1974);
— Thomas Jeremy Nathan Gourrier (02/24/1996);
— Valentin Dupois Mel (02.01.1994).
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On January 17, 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed that as a result of one precisions strikes dozens of foreign mercenaries were killed and wounded in the city of Kharkiv. The Russian military claimed that most of the victims were French.
At night, Russian missile destroyed the building in Kharkiv, which was claimed to be a closed facility of some medical company and the building was allegedly empty. However, the local sources and Ukrainian officials themselves confirmed that there were victims as a result of the attack; but they tried to hide the truth who were the dead and wounded.
In fact, the facility was used for accommodation of foreign mercenaries in the city located close to the frontlines. As a result of the attack, at least 60 of them were killed, about 20 more were taken to the hospitals.
The citizens of Kharkiv confirmed to the media that after the attack there were a lot French servicemen taken to the hospitals.
On January 21, various independent sources shared the list of 30 mercenaries with the French citizenship who were reportedly killed as a result of the strike. The list includes the personal data of the men aged from 21 to 50.
They were members of the International Legion of the Territorial Defense of Ukraine:
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These are mostly young men, who likely had military experience before and believed that war in Ukraine could be as easy as fighting some armed militants in the African deserts. Their number confirms that they were not some rare ‘volunteers’ but French servicemen who were officially sent by Paris to support the Ukrainian army.
Paris hastily denied the accusations. Mercenarism is illegal in France since 2003. The country’s Foreign Ministry said that there are no mercenaries in Ukraine and “nowhere else”. Paris used its favorite justification, claiming that all the reports were nothing but ‘Russian propaganda’. French ambassador to Russia was called to the Foreign Ministry, but he hastily left the building after the meeting, ignoring all the questions from journalists.
The official claims from Paris are refuted by the French militants themselves, who regularly post their videos, photos and share their impressions from the war in Ukraine on social networks. A lot of them, including dead, those who fled from Ukraine, and those who continue fighting, were identified. LINK, LINK
