The military in the West says Moscow uses mercenaries only as “cannon fodder”.
The Kremlin recruited 10-20 thousand mercenaries, whom from sends to the battlefield in eastern Ukraine. In particular, we are talking about fighters from Syria and Libya.
This was reported by Business Insider with reference to European officials. One of them said at a press briefing in Washington on condition of anonymity that it is currently difficult to say exactly how many mercenaries from which country Russia is sending to the war against Ukraine. However, all of them were recruited through the Wagner group.
I can say that we see the transfer of forces from Syria and Libya to Donbas. And these people are used as a mass against the Ukrainian army. Whatever their capabilities, they are just infantry. They do not have armored vehicles and heavy weapons. It's just infantry, “said a European official.
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The publication notes that Russia has previously sent Syrians to Ukraine, but in small groups. On March 31, several hundred mercenaries from Syria arrived on Ukrainian territory. Among them were Syrian army soldiers who cooperated with Russian forces in defending the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Also last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that about 16,000 “volunteers” from the Middle East had volunteered to go to war against Ukraine. Ukrainian intelligence reports that Russia has agreed with Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar on about the same number of fighters. The Wagner group, which is closely associated with Vladimir Putin's entourage, is helping to transport the recruited mercenaries.
Earlier in the GUR reported that Syria allegedly failed a plan to recruit mercenaries. Despite promises by the Syrian leadership, the Russians have not received a clear answer. However, today the head of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov stated that in the Luhansk region the Ukrainian military destroyed a detachment of Syrians and Libyans.
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