List published – Moscow: Austrian fighters killed in Ukraine

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People from numerous countries have traveled to Ukraine to fight alongside the defenders against the Russian invaders. The Russian Defense Ministry has now published a list that puts the number of foreign fighters at about 7,000. Nearly 2,000 of them are said to have died. Among them are two Austrians.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 6,956 “mercenaries and weapons specialists” from 64 countries have arrived in Ukraine since the start of the war on February 24. According to a statement from the ministry, “1956 had already been destroyed”. According to this, another 1779 left Ukraine again.

Five mercenaries from Austria
According to the list, five mercenaries from Austria entered Ukraine. Two of them were “eliminated”, ie presumably killed in battle. One has since left the war country. Two others would continue to fight for Ukraine as mercenaries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not confirmed this information at the request of krone.at. At the very beginning of the war of aggression, however, “a handful” of people reported anonymously that they were interested in fighting in Ukraine, a spokeswoman said. They had been told in no uncertain terms that under current law they would lose their citizenship if they fought in a foreign army. The spokeswoman said there was no information on how these people would have made their decision.

According to Russian information, the vast majority of foreign fighters come from Poland: more than 1,800 have entered the country and more than 1,100 are still active. They are followed by Romania and Great Britain, each with hundreds of mercenaries. According to the list, many foreign fighters also come from Croatia, Belarus, Germany, the US and Georgia.

Several mercenaries captured
Earlier this month, separatist authorities in eastern Ukraine sentenced two imprisoned British citizens and a Moroccan to death for acting as mercenaries and attempting to overthrow the government. Two allegedly captured American fighters recently appeared on Russian state television.

Russia’s defense ministry said on Friday the number of foreign fighters was declining and many were leaving Ukraine “amid the mounting military failures of the Kiev regime and the massive daily loss of manpower and equipment.”

Is the list credible?
How accurate the list actually is is difficult to determine. It is clear that Russia has an interest in maximizing the number of foreign fighters in order to perpetuate its own propaganda narrative of “Western aggression”. In any case, foreign mercenaries on the Russian side are also fighting in Ukraine. According to the AFP news agency, a European official explained that up to 20,000 mercenaries from the Russian private military company Wagner Group, as well as from Syria and Libya, are fighting in Ukraine alongside Moscow.

Source: Krone

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