War in Ukraine: Moscow claims to have killed nearly 2,000 foreign fighters

THE Russian army said about 7,000 “Foreign mercenaries” from 64 countries have reached Ukraine from beginning of the conflict and how almost 2,000 of them have been killed.

“Our lists, on June 17, include mercenaries and equipment 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“, Said in a statement the Russian 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 with the highest losses, according to Moscow, 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 presents the fighters as “mercenaries” using a derogatory term implying that their motive was profit.

Pro-Russian separatists have sentenced three of them to death, two British and one Moroccan, while releasing videos of two American prisoners.

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.