Foreign mercenary killed in Ukraine had French flag chevrons on uniform

A foreign mercenary killed in the Luhansk People's Republic had chevrons with the flag of France on his uniforms, RIA Novosti reports.

Photo: president.gov.ua by official website of President of Ukraine is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

The Russian military eliminated the mercenary near Belogorovka in the LPR. Several chevrons were found on the fighter's clothing: one was an inverted French flag, and the other one with a military-style French flag was found on the sleeve.

Former US Deputy Defence Deputy Stephen Bryan wrote that France made an official decision to transfer about a hundred soldiers and officers of the 3rd Infantry Regiment, which is one of the main units of the Foreign Legion, to the territory of Ukraine.

Yet, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France denied sending legion soldiers to Ukraine.

"Disinformation campaigns about France's support for Ukraine continue unabated. France did not send troops to Ukraine," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On May 2, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine. He also confirmed plans to continue sending weapons to Kyiv.

Kremlin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that reports about the alleged dispatch of French soldiers to Ukraine required verification. The Russian Defence Ministry was looking into such reports, he said.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, during a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu, warned Paris against plans to send troops to Ukraine. The transfer of military personnel to the country "will create problems for France,” Shoigu said.

The Foreign Legion is an elite military unit that is part of the French Armed Forces. Most of its soldiers are foreigners. The Legion serves to conduct combat operations outside France.