Missing US citizen found in DPR
The American citizen William Paul Reilly, who went missing after he traveled to the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to fight alongside pro-Russian militants, has been found. More specifically, his grave has been found, according to an independent investigation published by the blogger Denis Kazansky.
On May 15, 2015, Reilly traveled from the US to Moscow, where he was met by a recruiter who was sending Russian militants to the Donbas. After meeting with him, Reilly went to Rostov. There he was robbed of $2000 in cash, as well as his bank cards, which were used to steal additional funds. Reilly was meant to leave for the DPR, but on June 24, 2015, communication with him was lost.
“In 2015, the American William Paul Reilly went to the DPR-controlled territory in order to help the ‘militia’ and went missing. Nothing was known about his fate for several years, and only now has the information come out that Reilly has been found. Indeed, not him himself, but his grave in the DPR. There is still no information about exactly what happened. All that is known is that the American went to Rostov, where he was robbed, and then one of the militants who received him reported that he had been arrested by the Russian FSB. Apparently, they took him for a spy and executed him. That’s how Russia thanked a generous heart,” the journalist wrote.
Kazansky also noted that the search for the missing American had lasted three years. The blogger believes that hundreds of people may have disappeared in the same way as Reilly.
“Reilly’s parents tried for three years to find him, without success. The DPR told them that no such person had come to the ‘republic’. The gray zone, like a bog, swallowed the foreigner. And if an American disappeared so easily into this bog, one can only guess how local, Ukrainian citizens have disappeared. I hope that this incident will get as much publicity as possible, and that people who are sympathetic to Russia and the LPR and DPR in the West will learn how the occupied regions dealt with a volunteer from the US who believed in the ‘fight against fascism’ and went personally to take part in it,” the blogger added.