DONETSK, August 27. /TASS/. People’s militia officers in the Donetsk People’s Republic killed a US national, Alan Joshua, who had been fighting for Ukraine, in combat on August 23, the DPR’s ombudsperson Darya Morozova said on Telegram on Saturday.

The DPR has notified US officials and the head of the UN monitoring mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, of his death, she added.

"In combat near Yegorovka on August 23, DPR people’s militia officers killed another foreign mercenary who had been fighting for Ukraine. Fleeing Ukrainian militants left his body on the battlefield. Documents identifying the killed person as US national Alan Joshua, born in Memphis in 1998, were found on him," Morozova specified. She said the DPR was ready to hand his body over to family.

Mercenaries are not combatants and therefore are not protected by international humanitarian law, nor are such individuals entitled to combatant immunity, Morozova reiterated. She recommended all foreigners arriving in Ukraine for military purposes to leave the country as soon as possible, "otherwise, no one would guarantee their safety," the ombudsperson warned.

On June 9, a court in the DPR handed capital punishment verdicts to two British nationals, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as Moroccan Brahim Saadoun, who were captured in Donbass, for participating in combat actions in Ukraine as mercenaries. The cases of the foreign mercenaries sentenced to death in the DPR had been transferred to the Justice Ministry, Denis Pushilin, the DPR head, announced on August 19. Another five foreign mercenaries are currently standing trial in the republic. They, too, can face capital punishment.