Complete List of Foreign Mercenaries Fighting in Ukraine, 10 from Indonesia

RUSSIA - JAKARTA- KYIV - The Russian Ministry of Defense continues to track and specifically record all foreign mercenaries who have arrived in Ukraine to participate in Russia's combat action against Ukraine.

These mercenaries have been arriving since February 24, 2022. Russia has recorded the number of foreign mercenaries arriving in Ukraine as 13,387 people. At the same time, the number of foreign mercenaries confirmed to have died in battle so far is 5,962.

In an official release issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via a Telegram group, it was mentioned that out of the total number of mercenaries, 10 of them are from Indonesia, with four confirmed to have died.

The Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as quoted by Kompas.com, stated that this information needs to be further investigated. He suggested asking the Russian party who has this data.

In a release, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the leaders or the largest number of mercenaries they referred to as undeniable are foreign soldiers who died, originating from Poland. Out of 2,960 Polish mercenaries, 1,497 have died, referred to by Russia as eliminated.

Mercenaries in Ukraine

Meanwhile, from Georgia, 1,042 fighters arrived, 561 of whom were eliminated. From Russia's arch-enemy, the United States, there were as many as 1,113 'soldiers of fortune' who arrived from the US, and 491 of them died.

Meanwhile, more than 40% of Canadian mercenaries were eliminated or 422 died out of a total of 1,005 mercenaries present in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, out of 822 fighters who came from Britain, 360 were eliminated. Of the 784 mercenaries who arrived from Romania, 349 of them died. In Germany - every 235 people and 88 died.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that it should be noted that France, which at all levels has denied the presence of their mercenaries in Ukraine, has lost 147 militants out of 356 militants who arrived.

Ukraine's Pressure

According to a Reuters report, Ukraine urged Southern countries on Friday to do more to prevent their citizens from being recruited to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine, by introducing to the public eight prisoners of war from these countries. .

These people included five men from Nepal, and one each from Cuba, Somalia, and Sierra Leone, according to Petro Yatsenko, a representative at the Ukrainian Government Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

“By showing the captured citizens, we are saying that it may be necessary to use more radical and effective measures so that dozens, hundreds of these people are not deceived by the agitators,” he told reporters in Kyiv.

“If we take the example of a country with a low per capita income level, there is a high likelihood that some of these citizens will be recruited by Russia and used as attacking troops, cannon fodder,” said Yatsenko.

Last week, India said it had uncovered a large human trafficking network that lured young men to work in Russia before sending them to the front lines.

In December, Nepal said it had asked Moscow not to recruit its citizens into the Russian army and to send back Nepalese soldiers serving there.

The prisoners were displayed in military uniforms and sat in two rows at a press conference in downtown Kyiv.

“As long as they are not determined by the court as mercenaries, we treat them the same way as we treat other prisoners of war,” added Yatsenko.

He added that the number of foreigners fighting for Russia seems to be increasing as the flow of prisoners from Russian prisons decreases.

The Wagner Group, a large Russian private military group, was extensively recruited from prisons before its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a rebellion last year and then died in a plane crash.

Russia has not commented on the allegations of the Global South countries that they are recruiting their citizens to fight.

Moscow often accuses Kyiv of also having “foreign mercenaries” on their side, a claim denied by Ukraine.