Ukraine steps up mercenary recruitment to conceal losses, treats them like ‘cannon fodder’: Russia

Ukraine has stepped up its recruitment of mercenaries from across the globe in efforts to conceal the catastrophic losses of its military forces in the raging war against Russia, Moscow’s Defense Ministry has declared in an official statement.

“The Kiev regime has stepped up recruitment work in Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries to attract foreign mercenaries,” said the statement released Monday, adding that nearly 12,000 foreign mercenaries from 84 countries have arrived in Ukraine since February 2022 to take part in Ukrainian combat operations against Russian forces.

“The largest number of mercenaries came to Ukraine in March-April 2022, but after the first losses were suffered, the dynamics of their arrival has sharply decreased,” according to the statement, which added that “the most numerous groups came from Poland (over 2,600 people), the USA and Canada (900 or more people), Georgia (over 800 people), the UK and Romania (700 or more people each), Croatia (over 300 people), as well as from France and the Turkish-controlled part of Syria (200 or more people each).”

In total, since 24 February 2022, 11675 foreign mercenaries from 84 countries have officially arrived in Ukraine to participate in the combat operations on the side of the AFU.

As of 30 June, 4,845 foreign mercenaries, the vast majority from the United States, Canada and European countries, have been reliably confirmed killed in the fighting. Another 4,801 foreign fighters escaped from the territory of Ukraine after dealing with the attitude of the Kiev regime towards them. Today, 2,029 mercenaries continue to operate in the ranks of the AFU.

It further cited “information obtained during interrogations of captured Ukrainian servicemen” to point out that Ukrainian “commanders operating on the line of contact are not held accountable for losses among foreign mercenaries.”

According to the official document, “the Ukrainian command treat the foreign mercenaries as cannon fodder, sending them at Russian positions in the first place. The evacuation of wounded mercenaries is organized on a residual principle, only after Ukrainian servicemen are removed.”

It further added that “due to the high losses of personnel, the Kiev regime has reportedly launched the recruitment of foreign mercenaries in Argentina, Brazil, Afghanistan, Iraq and in the American-controlled areas of Syria over the past month.”

The United States and its allies have been pouring weapons worth tens of billions of dollars and other aid into Ukraine since the start of its conflict with Russia, despite Moscow's repeated warnings.

In total, the Biden administration has committed more than $100 billion to the so-called “Project Ukraine.”

Russia began what it described as a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, as part of a national security measure against the persisting eastern advance of the US-led NATO military alliance.

Moscow also said the military operation was aimed at defending the pro-Russia population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev, and also to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.

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