Russia’s Defense Ministry issued a report Thursday which said its forces have killed nearly 6,000 foreign mercenaries and volunteers fighting on behalf of Ukraine since the war began over two years ago.
The report claimed that in total 13,387 “foreign mercenaries” from multiple dozens of countries have fought in Ukraine, and offered a remarkably specific breakdown of nationalities. International press outlets underscored that it was impossible to independently verify the claims.
Russian Defense Ministry releases stats on foreign mercenaries in Ukraine
— Russian Market (@runews) March 14, 2024
The MoD says that since February 24, 2022, 13,387 mercenaries arrived in Ukraine. 5,962 of them have been confirmed killed in action.
Poland remains the largest source of mercenary power for Kiev, with… pic.twitter.com/YQEUraWuYh
Notably Russia claimed an astounding number of American mercenary deaths, putting the number killed from the United States at 491. The number of fighters killed who hailed from Britain was listed at 360, and Canada – 422, another surprisingly high figure according to the claims. But the Russian MoD’s tally of Polish foreign fighters was by far the largest group – at 1,497 out of 2,690 fighters said to have been killed.
Within the first year of the Russian invasion, it was especially then UK Prime Minister Liz Truss who openly encouraged British and Western fighters to go volunteer to fight for Ukraine.