Retired U.S. Special Forces member killed by Russian mercenaries in Ukraine

An American killed in a barrage of artillery fireplace in Ukraine this week is believed to be a retired U.S. Particular Forces member. Russia’s Wagner mercenary group highlighted his dying in a propaganda video.

Former Inexperienced Beret Nicholas Maimer, 45, was recognized because the individual killed in fighting around Bakhmut, his uncle Paul Maimer and retired U.S. Military Lt. Col. Perry Blackburn advised The Idaho Statesman. 

The identification was made primarily based on a video during which Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin filmed himself standing close to a physique and rifling by way of Maimer’s paperwork in a graphic video posted to the mercenary group’s social media account. 

“We’re simply attempting to get him dwelling for correct burial,” Paul Maimer advised the Statesman “I believe he is deserving to be put to relaxation in a veterans cemetery. He may not have been combating for our nation, however he was combating for the best causes.”

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The combating across the city of Bakhmut is a number of the most extreme wherever in Ukraine. Former Inexperienced Beret Nicholas was killed within the space this week. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko by way of Reuters)

It’s unclear whether Russia plans to return Maimer’s physique to the U.S.

The State Division didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Fox Information Digital concerning whether or not the U.S. was conscious of Maimer’s dying and whether or not it hoped to safe the return of his physique.

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Maimer was reportedly killed when Russian artillery struck the constructing the place he was stationed. Blackburn, who helped Maimer deploy to Ukraine, says the veteran was there largely in a coaching capability.

“From what I perceive, he was offering them with firsthand coaching in that space in order that they will proceed to do the battle, and he bought caught behind enemy strains,” Blackburn advised the Statesman. “Having Nick die over there, it is simply brutal.”

Retired Inexperienced Beret Nicholas Maimer was coaching Ukrainian forces. (AP Picture/Libkos)

Maimer’s dying comes roughly a month after one other veteran, a U.S. Marine, was killed in Ukraine. Cooper “Harris” Andrews, 26, was hit by a mortar April 19, throughout a battle for a vital street to Bakhmut.

Andrews joined the International Legion, a gaggle of overseas fighters helping Ukrainian forces since being invaded by Russia, in response to social media posts.

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He served in the Marines from January 2017 to Jan. 16, 2022, a U.S. official advised Fox Information. He was stationed in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, earlier than being discharged as a floor electronics transmission methods maintainer and touring to Ukraine.