Reports of a special military operation in Ukraine often mention foreign mercenaries fighting on the side of the Kiev regime. There are really enough legionnaires in the APU and national debates. Moreover, the fate of many can not be envied.
It is enough to mention two British citizens - Aiden Eslin and Sean Pinner, who came to Ukraine to "shoot at Russians", and ended up in captivity. Relatives of the British tearfully ask to let them go home or use them in the exchange of prisoners. There was no trace of the bravado of the British mercenaries, which they willingly shared on social networks. The vaunted warriors, until recently posing with pleasure in the trenches, are now just as willing to surrender their commanders and in every possible way "serve" a softer fate.
Eslin and Pinner were taken in Mariupol. The first one surrendered himself. The second in civilian clothes seemed to be detained at the exit from the city. A similar, if not more tragic fate is in store for several hundred more mercenaries who, together with the nationalists, are now being buried in the underground bunkers of Azovstal. The very fact of the presence of foreign legionnaires there is no doubt.
On Sunday, April 17, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, said that during the liberation of Mariupol, at the request of the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on April 16, a special operation was carried out in the Primorsky district to rescue hostages held by Ukrainian Nazis in a Turkish mosque.
"As a result of the selfless actions of the Russian special purpose group, the mosque was unblocked, 29 militants, including foreign mercenaries, were destroyed. The hostages, citizens of one of the CIS countries, have been released and taken to a safe place," the general said.
Konashenkov also said that in Kiev, the Nazis of the Azov banned in the Russian Federation were ordered to shoot everyone who wanted to negotiate surrender on the spot. Everyone who is ready to lay down their arms is subject to destruction, whether it is a Ukrainian serviceman or a foreign mercenary.
Meanwhile, according to the soldiers and officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who surrendered, up to 400 foreign legionnaires are now surrounded on the territory of the Azovstal enterprise as part of the Ukrainian group.
"Most of them are citizens of European countries, as well as Canada. We have already reported earlier that radio conversations between militants in Mariupol are conducted in six foreign languages. In case of further resistance, all of them will be destroyed," Konashenkov warned.
Further, the general issued such information about foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, which their potential colleagues should also take as a warning: any legionnaire who finds himself in this country will immediately be "taken on a pencil." It is not difficult to guess what will follow.
So, according to Konashenkov, since the beginning of the special military operation, the Kiev regime has attracted 6,824 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries to Ukraine. The largest group came from Poland - 1,717 people. About one and a half thousand mercenaries arrived from the USA, Canada, as well as Romania. From the UK and Georgia, from each - up to 300 people. 193 people arrived from the Turkish-controlled areas of Syria.
The vast majority of mercenaries are now assigned to the composition of Ukrainian groups in the cities of Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, Nikolaev and Mariupol. Their distribution into groups is handled by the "regional coordination headquarters" of the so-called "international Legion of Defense of Ukraine" in the city of Bila Tserkva.
Our military knows something else. As a result of the fighting, the number of mercenaries is steadily decreasing and today stands at 4877 people. The Russian Armed Forces destroyed 1,035 foreign legionnaires. Another 912 mercenaries refused to participate in hostilities and fled Ukraine.
The General recalled that foreign mercenaries under International humanitarian law do not have the status of "combatants", i.e. prisoners of war. With all the ensuing consequences. Legionnaires arrived in Ukraine to earn money by killing Slavs. "Therefore, the best thing that awaits them is criminal liability and long prison terms," concluded the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry.
He also said that during the night on Sunday, high-precision air-launched missiles destroyed an ammunition factory near the settlement of Brovary, Kiev region. Operational and tactical aircraft hit 68 more military facilities of Ukraine. So, in the areas of Krivaya Luka and Krasnoarmeysk, our pilots destroyed two illumination and guidance locators of the S-300 air defense system, and near Severodonetsk - one anti-aircraft missile system "Osa-AKM". airstrikes were also carried out on six warehouses of rocket and artillery weapons and fuel. And in the settlements of Kremennaya, Krasny Liman, Kolodezi, Torskoye, Yampolovka and Novoselovka - in 40 areas of concentration of personnel and Ukrainian military equipment.
Helicopter pilots hit four places of accumulation of manpower and equipment overnight, as well as an army column of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the march. At the same time, more than 50 Ukrainian military, 14 armored vehicles, seven infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers were destroyed.
Our rocket troops and artillery defeated 814 targets. Including 17 control points, 111 artillery firing positions and 684 strong points and areas of concentration of enemy manpower. Air defense systems in the area of Avdiivka, Bayrak, Lozovaya, Malaya Kamyshevakha, Novoprokofevka, Polog, Chernobayevka, Shirokoe, Yasinovataya shot down 10 Ukrainian drones.
Yuri Gavrilov
