MOSCOW, July 4 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz.Western mercenaries, volunteers and just thrill-seekers continue to suffer heavy losses in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry reports almost daily on the destruction of foreigners. There are many very experienced fighters among them. About who came to fight in Donbass — in the material of RIA Novosti.
"They die in vain"
The other day it became known about the neutralization of two sabotage and reconnaissance groups in the Lisichansk direction from the "Georgian National Legion". The militants of this volunteer formation, created in 2014, have been fighting on the side of Ukraine for eight years.
Among those killed is one of the leaders of the "Georgian Legion" Teymuraz Khizanishvili, who personally appeared on the video with the executions of Russian prisoners. According to military estimates, up to several hundred volunteers from NATO and former CIS countries can still hold the defense in the city. In addition to Georgians, these are Poles, Britons and Armenians. And the more the encirclement tightens, the less enthusiastic the "guests" are.
"I have traveled all over the country, I have seen a lot of things and I can say that nothing shines for Ukrainians," the American mercenary admitted on social networks. — People get injured and die in vain — it's just a disgrace. We got involved in a two—hour battle - it turned out that it was incomprehensible with the Ukrainian special forces. There is no connection between the parts. They keep telling us about fire support all the time, and they themselves will fire three times from a mortar — and that's it. Ukrainians are brave guys, we must pay tribute to them. As for the rest — hands down."
"Careless attitude"
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, since the beginning of the military special operation, about seven thousand "soldiers of fortune" have entered the territory of Ukraine — both with combat experience and without. Of these, 1956 died, 1779 left, and 3221 remain in service. The geography of arrivals is wide: 4866 — Europeans, 1267 — from North and South America, 671 — from Asia, 147 — from Africa and five from Australia. Recall that President Vladimir Zelensky in March announced the creation of the "foreign legion" and the abolition of visas for volunteers.
Ukrainian soldiers with an American M777 howitzer
Image Source: © AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
Most of the mercenaries are from Poland, Canada, the USA, Romania and the UK. These countries provide Kiev with maximum moral and material support. However, well-trained specialists who have passed the hot spots in the Middle East, say with one voice: "We have not encountered this yet."
"No matter what they say about the Russians, they have a professional army and a lot of modern weapons," explains Matt Robinson, a mercenary from the UK, whose words are quoted by The Telegraph. — We were given outright junk on the spot. Corruption is rampant in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Even the most basic equipment and machinery are disappearing. Often there are weapons, but no ammunition. There are no bulletproof vests and first aid kits. The attitude of the Ukrainian commanders is as careless as possible."
Some foreigners do not take up arms, doing medicine, supply, logistics and training. The rest are thrown into the inferno. "Soldiers of Fortune" fought near Severodonetsk, Volnovakha, Popasna, Mariupol. The British Sean Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as the Moroccan Saadoun Brahim, were captured at Azovstal. The DPR court sentenced them to death.
Artillery decides
Such a harsh sentence will serve as the best anti-advertising of "military tourism". In addition, mercenaries in the combat zone are not subject to the provisions of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners.
Perhaps this will scare off singles. Experienced teams are another matter. For example, American PMCs Academi, DynCorp and Cubic. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that these organizations are preparing volunteers to be sent to Ukraine, and their military instructors are directly involved in combat operations.
Academi is the former Blackwater. The rebranding was carried out about ten years ago. The reason is massive violations of the rules of war by the fighters: they repeatedly opened fire on civilians, shelled residential areas, and mistreated prisoners. In addition, they were involved in the arms smuggling scandal. The company has its own helicopter fleet, a rich arsenal of weapons, including heavy, armored vehicles. They hardly brought equipment to Ukraine, but even as light infantry, such mercenaries are a serious force.
DynCorp International is the oldest PMC, founded back in 1946. They tested missile technology for the Pentagon, installed security systems at US embassies, and covered American security forces from the air. Since 2010, the company has been training intelligence officers in actions behind enemy lines, diversions, sniper warfare and subversion. The task is to create chaos on supply lines, ambushes on convoys, equipment caches with weapons and explosives. Their main "vis-a—vis" is the Russian special forces combing the forests along the route of the military columns.
A fighter of the Chechen detachment "Akhmat" during a sortie into the territory near Lisichansk controlled by Ukrainian troops
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Gennady Dubovoy
A small PMC Cubic rarely got into the world media. It is known that before the attack on South Ossetia in August 2008, its representatives trained Georgian soldiers.
"Western "private traders" and veterans know how to fight, this is a fact," says a Russian intelligence officer who fought under Raisins. — They shoot accurately, actively use grenades, maneuver competently. Good snipers and sappers. But there are very few of them here. And we have many times more artillery, which solves everything in this conflict. It doesn't matter what kind of individual training, equipment and motivation you have. Everyone is defenseless before a flying projectile."
According to the Ministry of Defense, more than half of the foreign mercenaries died or left. A little more than three thousand "soldiers of fortune" are still fighting for Ukraine.
Andrey Kotz
