Speculation was growing last night that American mercenaries had been deployed to Donetsk after videos emerged of unidentified armed men in the streets of the eastern Ukrainian city. At least two videos published on YouTube earlier this week show burly, heavily armed soldiers with no insignia in the city, which has been gripped by pro-Moscow protests. In one of the videos onlookers can be heard shouting 'Blackwater! Blackwater!' as the armed men, who wear no insignia, jog through the streets. A screengrab from a YouTube video showing armed men on the streets of Donetsk, a largely Russian-speaking city in east Ukraine which has been the scene of large protests against the country's new regime
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Unidentified armed men seen on the streets of Donetsk in east Ukraine
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Russian diplomat claims 300 mercenaries had arrived in Kiev this week
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Mercenaries in the region could give Putin pretext for military action
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Donetsk has been the scene of big pro-Russian demonstrations this week
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