A U.S.-born fighter with pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine has gone missing, according to Russian-linked media reports, after intensified clashes in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
This past Friday, Telegram channel Mash, which says it is linked to Russia's security services, said local police in the eastern region were looking for Russell Bentley, a native of Austin, Texas, after he "disappeared" following shelling to the southwest of Russian-controlled city of Donetsk. He was last seen east of the current front line, close to the Kremlin-controlled town of Marinka.
Russia annexed the Donetsk region, part of the eastern Ukrainian area known as the Donbas, and has backed rebels there for the past decade before launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Donetsk has seen some of the heaviest and bloodiest fighting of the war, but Russia does not fully control the region. Russian troops have focused on slow gains in Donetsk in recent months, pushing westward after they captured the strategic city of Avdiivka in February.
Russia's state-controlled broadcaster Sputnik reported that Bentley had "gone missing in Donetsk on April 8," citing Russian-backed authorities in Donetsk.
Pro-Kremlin military bloggers, who are influential voices in the war in Ukraine, also shared the reports. One prominent blogger said Bentley's wife had discovered his car at a service station with a "broken phone." Unconfirmed social media reports appeared to say the U.S. fighter had been killed.
Bentley, who goes by the call sign Texas, has fought the Ukrainians after signing up to join the Russian forces in 2014.
An unknown number of U.S.-born fighters or American citizens have traveled to Ukraine to fight for Kyiv against the Kremlin. Many have joined Ukraine's International Legion. Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in February 2022 that U.S. citizens and other foreigners could now join the country's National Guard.
U.S. fighters battling on behalf of Russia's military against Ukrainian forces are rarer. The U.S. State Department has warned Americans not to travel to Ukraine because of the war.
"If I told all the times that I came within seconds or inches of death, first of all, we'd be here all night, and second of all, you wouldn't even believe me," Bentley told Newsweek in early March 2022. "I can tell you that I'm the luckiest dude that I've ever known. I believe in guardian angels because of how lucky I've been here."
"I'm not afraid of being killed, but I know what would happen to me if I got captured. So that ain't gonna happen," he said.
Bentley has referred to himself as "the Donbas Cowboy" and previously publicized pro-Kremlin content through his social media presence.
"I don't need to go back to the U.S.," Bentley said, adding that he has a passport with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and is a Russian citizen.
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Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
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