US Army veteran killed near Bakhmut - CNN

Former U.S. Army soldier Nicholas Maimer was killed this week as a result of Russian artillery shelling in the embattled city of Bakhmut.

That's according to CNN, Ukrinform reports.

According to retired Lieutenant Colonel Perry Blackburn, founder of the non-profit organization AFGFree, with which Maimer worked in Ukraine, Nicholas Maimer was in a building in Bakhmut that collapsed due to artillery fire.

Blackburn added that Ukrainians who were with Meimer believe he was either trapped in the collapsed building or killed by "heavy fire" from Russian artillery.

"They got in the position that they were, artillery started coming in heavy and the building started to collapse. That’s when most of the Americans and Ukrainians there were able to escape. Unfortunately, Nick was not able to escape", an American friend of Maimer in Ukraine told CNN.

Confirmation of Meimer's death came after the head of the Russian private military group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said he had shown the American's body in a video posted on the Wagner Telegram group on Tuesday.

As reported, the Russian army is focusing its main efforts on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Maryinka directions, with 55 combat clashes taking place there over the last day.