Russia has released statistics claiming that nearly 6,000 foreign mercenaries have been killed in the Ukraine war so far. According to the ministry 13,387 “foreign mercenaries” from many countries have fought in Ukraine and Russian forces have killed 5,962 of those volunteer fighters.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense continues to track and personally record all foreign mercenaries who have arrived in Ukraine to participate in combat action,” the statement said.
The news comes as Russians go to the polls today and the issue of foreign mercenaries has become a new challenge for the country. According to a report in the Kyiv Independent the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Siberian Legion claimed that they are already operating within Russia and have put up videos on social media posts to show the same.
Both groups are made up of Russians who are based in Ukraine. They are fighting to overthrow President Putin.
Their claims had contradicted the Russian government’s claim that it had repelled all Ukrainian-based fighters from its country.
The Russian Defence Ministry statistics also showed that the maximum number of fighters were from Poland where 1,497 out of 2,690 fighters were said to have been killed. It said that it killed 561 fighters from Georgia, 491 from the United States, 422 from Canada, 360 from Britain, 349 from Romania, 147 from France, and 88 from Germany.
These claims cannot be independently verified.
Russia had also caused alarm when President Putin had stated that Moscow was ready for a nuclear war. “From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready,” Putin told Rossiya-1 television and news agency RIA in response to a question whether the country was really ready for a nuclear war.
Putin was responding to French president Emmanuel Macron’s claims that sending “Western fighters” to fight in Ukraine should be considered.
