Kiev, Jun 7 (IANS): A Russian mercenary, who gained notoriety for butchering prisoners of war and civilians in the Donbas, has been killed while fighting in Ukraine, Daily Mail reported.

Vladimir Andonov, 44, a fighter for the shadowy Wagner Group, was shot by a sniper near Kharkiv during a reconnaissance mission on June 5, Russian media said.

Andonov was known to Russians as 'Vakha' or 'The volunteer from Buryatia' after the region he was from, but to Ukrainians he was known as 'the executioner' for the massacres he helped carry out during Russia's first invasion of the country in 2014.

His death was confirmed by Zhambal-Zhamso Zhanaev, head of the region where Andonov was from, who spoke to a Russian newspaper.

Andonov had served in the regular Russian military from 1997 until 2005 when he moved to the city of Ulan-Ude where he studied in a teaching college, Daily Mail reported.

He dropped out of school before completing his studies and got a job in trade, before answering a call for volunteers to go to Ukraine and join the fighting in 2014.

Andonov was drafted into the Olkhon special forces company fighting in the Donbas, and took part in the Battle of Debaltseve in early 2015 -- one of the last major battles of the initial war.

At the time, he appeared in a video filmed in the region which became one of the first pieces of evidence that volunteers from the Buryatia were in Ukraine.

Ukraine accused him of personally participating in the massacre of prisoners of war in the town of Logvinovo in the aftermath of the battle, and of killing civilians elsewhere in Donbas.