DISINFO: US mercenary killed while trying to break into Russian sabotage group
SUMMARY
In late October, retired U.S. Marine Corey Nawrocki was killed during an attempted infiltration by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group into Russia's Bryansk Oblast.
RESPONSE
A common pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative accuses the US, UK, and NATO countries of direct involvement in the war in Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin media frequently push the claim that there is a significant presence of Western mercenaries embedded within the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Such claims are aimed at justifying Russia's war in Ukraine.
There are no NATO troops fighting on the frontlines in Ukraine. NATO officials have frequent contact with their Ukrainian colleagues and some NATO member states provide Ukraine with military equipment and ammunition, but the Alliance is not directly involved in hostilities. NATO, the EU and the US condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked.
Ukraine invited experienced foreign nationals to join its foreign legion, where they serve as regular soldiers, not mercenaries, and receive the same pay as Ukrainian troops. Those who opt out of a formal contract join volunteer battalions without material benefits, motivated by personal and ideological reasons to defend Ukraine's independence.
See similar claims of disinformation: The West / NATO fighting a hegemonic proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, Terrorists, drug dealers and NATO soldiers serve as mercenaries in Ukraine, Cruel Polish mercenaries brutally kill entire civilian families in the Kursk region, French, Georgian and Polish mercenaries exterminated Sudzha civilians like cockroaches.