MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. US flags have been found on some destroyed Ukrainian soldiers in the south of Chasov Yar, suggesting the soldiers could have been foreign mercenaries, said Zelimkhan Batukayev, commander of the 2nd Motorized Rifle Battalion of the 4th Brigade of the 3rd Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces' Southern Military District (the Shustry group of the Akhmat force).
"When we started moving into the camp itself, we did not find a single killed enemy with a Ukrainian flag, but there were American flags. I am 99% sure that they were not Ukrainians," he said.
According to Batukayev, there was a similar situation in Artyomovsk, known in Ukraine as Bakhmut.
"This is the picture I observed when we entered Bakhmut. You remember, probably, yes, when we entered Bakhmut, they all were mercenaries, 90%. Going into this camp, I saw exactly the same picture," he said.
He also said that three Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in the area of pipes in the southeast of the city.
"They are not quite clear what they are fighting for," Shustry said.