The 33-year-old son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says he served with the Wagner mercenary group in Ukraine for nearly six months.

Nikolai Peskov said "it was my duty... I couldn't sit to one side watching as friends and others went off there."

Wagner is called a "private military company" in Russia and now has international notoriety for alleged war crimes and other abuses in Ukraine.

It has recruited thousands of convicts from prisons after taking heavy losses.

The BBC was unable to verify his claim about serving with Wagner, whose troops have been engaged in intense fighting for months in Bakhmut.

It is rare for a member of the Russian elite to choose to join the group - many have gone abroad to avoid conscription into the regular army.

Immediately sent to the back lines.

47 minutes ago, Social Media said:

The 33-year-old son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says he served with the Wagner mercenary group in Ukraine for nearly six months.

Which may or may not be true....