Foreign mercenaries in Ukraine.
On June 4, Ukraine acknowledged that four foreign mercenaries who were fighting in the ranks of its forces had been killed by the Russian military and its allies.
In a statement, the so-called International Legion of Defense of Ukraine, which was formed after the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, said the mercenaries were from Germany, the Netherlands, Australia and France. The legion did not specify when or under what circumstances the four mercenaries were killed.
The slain mercenaries were identified in the statement as Björn Benjamin Clavis, Ronald Vogelaar, Michael O’Neill and Wilfried Blériot. The legion shared photos showing them clad in camouflage and carrying small arms.
From left to right: German Björn Benjamin Clavis, Dutch Ronald Vogelaar, Australian Michael O’Neill and French Wilfried Blériot. Click to see full-size image.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered the formation of the legion in the early days of the Russian operation. Within a few weeks, Kiev claimed that more than 20,000 fighters from 52 countries had signed up to join the legion.
In a recent statement, Major General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, said that the Russian military had killed hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine. The spokesman warned that Kiev has been “sacrificing” these mercenaries.
Konashenkov also revealed that inflow of foreign mercenaries into Ukraine to fight against Russian troops has waned since early May and their number has halved to 3,500.
“We see that the inflow of foreign mercenaries into Ukraine to fight against the Russian Armed Forces has actually waned since the beginning of May. According to the data available to us, the number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine has dwindled actually twofold, from 6,600 to 3,500,” Konashenkov said.
The spokesman added that the number of mercenaries in combat formations of Kiev forces in Donbass “has fallen by orders of magnitude”.
The number of foreign mercenaries supporting Kiev forces will likely continue to decline as the Russian military and its allies advance further in the Donbass. Kiev will likely struggle to recruit more mercenaries from now on.
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