Mainly infantry: EU: Russia deploys up to 20,000 mercenaries

Mainly infantry
EU: Russia deploys up to 20,000 mercenaries

In the offensive in eastern Ukraine, Russia is apparently not relying solely on its own army. Up to 20,000 mercenaries are said to be deployed on behalf of Moscow, including fighters from Syria and the notorious Wagner Group.

According to Western estimates, Russia deployed between 10,000 and 20,000 mercenaries in the Ukraine war. The mercenaries are members of the notorious Russian Wagner Group and fighters from Syria and Libya, a European government official told journalists in Washington.

The mercenaries did not have heavy vehicles or weapons at their disposal, rather they would be used primarily as a “mass against the resistance of the Ukrainians”. The mercenaries are mostly infantry, said the government official, who declined to be named. It is not clear how many of them belonged to the Wagner group. Above all, “relocations” of fighters from Syria and Libya to the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine were observed. The Guardian reported that ex-Syrian soldiers were offered monthly payments of between $600 and $3,000 to fight in Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian secret services, Russia negotiated the deployment of Libyan fighters with Moscow-backed General Khalifa Haftar.

At the end of March, the British Ministry of Defense assumed that Russia could send more than 1,000 mercenaries from the far-right Wagner Group to Ukraine, including leaders of the organization. The Wagner mercenary group is considered Russia’s “shadow army” and is associated with crisis regions such as Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic and, most recently, Mali. The mercenaries are accused of serious human rights abuses, including torture and targeted killings. Moscow denies any connection to the paramilitary private company.

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