Eurasia Press & News
Many foreign mercenaries recruited by Kiev soon opt to flee Ukraine after experiencing the gruesome reality of the battlefield, an army officer told CNN on Sunday. Moscow has previously said that Kiev is using soldiers from other countries as cannon fodder to breach Russian defenses.
In an interview with the American network, Lieutenant Dmitry Kostyuk said that his platoon, which was deployed not far from Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine), a scene of fierce fighting in recent months, was short on personnel and was replenished by 12 foreign fighters.
According to the officer, while some mercenaries join the fray because they are attracted to “the romance of war,”others go because they see fighting as their “professional activity” or even “because it is a good line on their resume.”
As a rule, they do not realize what they are getting into. Many people imagine our war as a gunfight with the enemy, but they don’t realize how much artillery there is and that you sit under fire all day, every day, and may not see the enemy at all.Kostyuk noted that, unlike Ukrainian citizens, foreigners are free to terminate a contract with the military. After seeing what the hostilities looked like, almost half of the people said, “No, no, this is too much. This is not the kind of war we signed up for,” the officer told CNN.
He also criticized the country’s mobilization campaign – which has been marred by numerous corruption scandals and draft dodging – by noting that Ukraine’s attempts to force who are reluctant to fight.
The Russian military has repeatedly warned that foreign mercenaries recruited by Ukraine are viewed as a legitimate target, having launched long-range missile strikes on their training camps on numerous occasions.
In July, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said that Kiev “throws units with foreign mercenaries into so-called ‘meat-grinder assaults’ on Russian positions,” with those injured troops being the last to be evacuated.
Around the same time, Moscow estimated that, since the start of hostilities, more than 11,000 foreign mercenaries had arrived in Ukraine and that almost 5,000 of them had fled the country after seeing how they were being treated by the military and local authorities.
As of July, the number of foreign fighters in the Ukrainian army was estimated at just over 2,000, according to the Defense Ministry.
Zelensky’s ‘cannon fodder’: The strange lives and pointless deaths of foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine
From the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, thousands of foreign mercenaries have joined Ukraine’s Armed Forces. They came to Ukraine from all over the world, but mostly from Poland, the US, and Canada. Recently, however, it seems that their interest in fighting for Kiev has significantly faded. This is evident both from estimates provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense and from foreign media reports.
Since February 24, 2022, a projected 11,675 foreign mercenaries from 84 countries have joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This was stated by the Russian Ministry of Defense on July 10.
The largest numbers of mercenaries apparently came from Poland (over 2,600), the US and Canada (over 900 from each), Georgia (over 800), Great Britain and Romania (over 700 each), Croatia (over 300), as well as from France and the part of Syria controlled by Türkiye (over 200 each).
According to Moscow, the peak influx of foreign mercenaries was from March to April of last year, but after the first casualties, the growth rate suddenly decreased.
The number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine appears to be rapidly declining. Russia’s Ministry of Defense believes that only around 2,000 remain today. It has also claimed that about 5,000 foreign volunteers fled Ukraine after seeing how the authorities treated them.
During interrogations, captured Ukrainian servicemen have reportedly said the commanders of front-line AFU units are not held accountable for losses among mercenaries.
“The Ukrainian command throws units with foreign mercenaries into so-called ‘meat-grinder assaults’ on Russian positions. Wounded mercenaries are the last to be evacuated, only after all Ukrainian servicemen are removed [from the battlefield],”said the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Shortly after the start of Russia’s offensive, President Vladimir Zelensky announced the formation of the International Legion of Territorial Defense in order to attract foreign volunteers to Ukraine. Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense claimed that over 20,000 people wanted to join.
In March of this year, however, the New York Times called the data exaggerated.
“Ukrainian officials initially boasted of 20,000 potential Legion volunteers, but far fewer actually enlisted. Currently, there are around 1,500 members in the organization,” the article said.
Citing internal documents, the newspaper noted that the Legion was experiencing problems and that recruitment had“stagnated.” As the Washington-based Counter Extremism Project claimed in March, the Legion and other groups tied to it “continue to feature individuals widely seen as unfit to perform their duties.”
