Russian forces carried out a strike on a mercenary compound in western Ukraine earlier this month, killing a large number of foreign fighters, Moscow’s Defense Ministry confirmed on Saturday.
In a statement, the ministry said verified data indicated that a Russian “group strike using high-precision long-range sea-based weapons” successfully hit a Ukrainian military academy in Lviv on July 6.
The barrage, officials claimed, “destroyed a large number of Polish and German mercenaries that had been stationed there,” without specifying how many.
In total, Moscow’s forces have killed about 4,990 foreign fighters since the start of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, with roughly the same number fleeing the country, the statement read.
“Russia’s armed forces will continue to deliberately destroy foreign mercenaries on the territory of Ukraine,” it added.
On July 6, the ministry claimed it had launched an attack on temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries, as well as warehouses storing Western-supplied military hardware. At the time, it said all designated targets had been hit, adding that “the enemy’s strategic reserves have suffered significant losses.”
Earlier this month, the Russian Defense Ministry said Kiev had stepped up its efforts to recruit more fighters across the world due to manpower shortages at home, adding that Ukraine “mostly uses them as cannon fodder for meat assaults.”
Russia has repeatedly occasions warned foreign mercenaries that should they choose to fight for Ukraine, they would become “legitimate targets,” and that the best they could expect was a “long term in prison.”