The troops are alive and cared for, according to the Tennessee National Guard, and are not, as the newspaper title incorrectly implies, US mercenaries slain in the Donetsk People’s Republic.
Three active and retired soldiers of the Tennessee National Guard who were wrongly labeled as mercenaries who were slain in Ukraine in a Russian media story are safe and well, according to the Tennessee National Guard. Prior to Russia’s incursion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden authorized the departure of US soldiers as part of a larger attempt to avoid a direct conflict with the nuclear-armed opponent. However, using intelligence from the pro-Russian militia in Ukraine’s Donetsk, a story published in Russia’s Pravda newspaper named the Americans by name and provided military ranks to each of them.
