Russia says it has killed nearly 2,000 foreign fighters in Ukraine

The Russian military said today that just under 7,000 “foreign mercenaries” from 64 countries had arrived in Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict and that nearly 2,000 of them had been killed.

“Our lists, on June 17, include mercenaries and armaments specialists from 64 countries in total. Since the start of the special military operation, 6,956 have arrived in Ukraine, 1,956 have already been killed, 1,779 have fled again,” the Russian military said in a statement. Ministry of Defense.

The Russian ministry adds that Poland is the “absolute leader” among European countries in the number of fighters who have gone to Ukraine, followed by Romania and Britain.

The announcement is accompanied by a table with the number of foreign fighters by nationality who have gone to Ukraine and the casualties recorded, according to the Russian military.

He says, for example, that 59 French “mercenaries” out of 183 who went to Ukraine to fight were killed after the Russian offensive began. The countries that according to Moscow have recorded the most losses are Poland (378 deaths), the United States (214), Canada (162) and Georgia (120).

After Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, thousands of foreign volunteers, mostly Europeans, flocked to the country to help Kiev’s forces.

Russia portrays the fighters as “mercenaries” using a derogatory term that implies that their motive was profit.

Pro-Russian separatists have sentenced three of them to death, two British and one Moroccan.

For their part, the Ukrainians and their Western allies emphasize that if there are mercenaries, they are in the Russian camp, mainly with the presence of elements of the Wagner group, mercenaries who have developed from Syria to Libya and Mali.