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| Tennessee National Guard troops board a plane in Smyrna, Tenn., to go to Washington, Thursday, June 4, 2020 (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File) |
International Military - Three present and also former members of the Tennessee National Guard are safe and also accountable, despite false Russian paper reports that the men passed away dealing with in Ukraine.
The three men called in Russian report, two of whom are still serving in the Tennessee National Guard, live as well as well - as well as no United States military employees are currently appointed to Ukraine, National Guard Bureau representative Wayne Hall stated in a telephone meeting. Friday.
The incorrect claims started flowing Thursday after Russian newspaper Pravda published a story and also tweet claiming 3 Americans, recognized by name and as "mercenaries," had actually been "disappeared." It pointed out pro-Russian militias in Ukraine's Donetsk region, who said they had actually determined the deceased using a Tennessee flag and also various other individual items left in a backpack near the body.
In response to the false tale, Tennessee National Guard spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Marlin Malone stated on Friday that the armed force had confirmed the location of the people named as well as "they are not in Ukraine."
Malone stated the Tennessee National Guard is "keeping track of the circumstance as well as will certainly aid members as needed."
The National Guard Bureau stated in a declaration on Thursday that it believed Russian media targeted the men because they appeared in articles related to the 2018 release to Ukraine, which included members of the 278th Armored Mounties Regiment of the Tennessee National Guard.
The objective included instructor development, shooting array, training area, equipment as well as instrumentation demands, and a sensible functional training atmosphere, the statement stated.
"All participants of the Tennessee National Guard returned securely to their house states in 2019 complying with an effective goal," the statement stated.
Pravda's phony post, which was still broadcasting on its internet site on Friday, is among several distorted cases to emerge from the Russian media in current weeks as part of a disinformation project to strengthen domestic assistance for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.