The Russian army claimed on Friday that around 7,000 “foreign mercenaries” from 64 countries had arrived in Ukraine since the start of the conflict on February 24, and nearly 2,000 of them had been killed by Russian forces.
“Our lists, as of June 17, include mercenaries and weapons experts from a total of 64 countries. Since the beginning of the special military operation, 6956 have arrived in Ukraine, 1956 have already been eliminated and 1,779 have left” the country, the ministry said. of Russian Defense in a statement.
The Russian Ministry adds that Poland is the “absolute leader” among European countries in terms of fighters (1831) who arrived in Ukraine, followed by Romania and the United Kingdom.
This statement was accompanied by a table of the number of foreign fighters, classifying them by nationality on arrival in Ukraine and the losses recorded, according to the Russian army.
The statement said that 59 French “mercenaries”, of the 183 who arrived in the country to fight, had been killed since the start of the Russian offensive. The countries with the most victims, according to Moscow, are Poland (378 dead), the United States (214), Canada (162) and Georgia (120).
Since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, thousands of foreign volunteers, mostly Europeans, have traveled to this country to help forces in Kiev.
Russia presents these fighters as “mercenaries,” a pejorative term that suggests they are motivated by money.
Pro-Russian separatists sentenced three of these fighters to death, two British and one Moroccan.
For their part, Ukraine and its western allies emphasize that if there are mercenaries, they are on the Russian side, in particular the presence of elements of the Wagner group, whose members were moved from Syria to Libya via Mali.
According to the Russian command, Russian missiles also hit 18 military and war equipment storage sites, as well as 10 Ukrainian artillery and mortar positions, including six Grad multi-launcher batteries in the Donetsk region, where they were also destroyed. two warehouses for weapons and ammunition.
Russian aviation, according to Moscow Defense, also destroyed 58 military and war equipment concentration centers, two Buk-M1 and Osa-AKM anti-aircraft missile launchers in the Donetsk region, an ammunition depot near Lysychansk in Lugansk.
In addition, 10 tanks and armored vehicles, six artillery pieces, four multiple launchers and nine military vehicles were also destroyed, claims the same source.
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