Russia continues "liquidating" foreign mercenaries fighting in Ukraine

Editor's note: The Russian military has been transparent about investigating and reporting the number of dead Ukrainian soldiers and foreign mercenaries killed in Ukraine. It is being reported by Russian military authorities roughly 6,500 foreign mercenaries have been killed in Ukraine including from Poland, the UK, the US, Canada as well as from 106 different countries. The recovered bodies of foreign mercenaries including Americans killed are laid out on blue tarps with all of their gear and personal belongings carefully identified and photographed as can be viewed in the following material. A Chechen fighter stated when the fighting broke out in Ukraine "if you come to Ukraine with a gun you won't be leaving alive." That is a fairly accurate assessment considering the number of foreign mercenaries being killed. These mercenaries who continue getting killed in Ukraine shouldn't be considered as "heroes" or "doing the right thing" fighting in Ukraine. They are in Ukraine mostly for the financial gain involved in a proxy war against Russia and they likely do not have any full understanding of the complexities involved. And as expected the Biden corporate syndicate will continue funding Ukraine up until January 20th.
________

Foreign Mercenaries Continue to Die in Ukraine – 6.5 Thousand Dead [Video and Images]

December 30, 2024 | By South Front

Since the beginning of the Ukrainian-Russian armed conflict, about 6.5 thousand of the 15 thousand foreign mercenaries who arrived in Ukraine have been killed. This was reported by Yulia Zhdanova, acting head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control.

Among them are mercenaries from 110 countries, the largest contingent of which were servicemen from Poland (2,960), the United States (1,113), Georgia (1,042), Canada (1,005) and the United Kingdom (822).

Earlier, on March 14, 2024, Sergey Shoigu, who at that time was the Russian Defense Minister, announced the statistics of 5962 eliminated mercenaries of the AFU. At that time, such losses were explained by the fact that foreign mercenaries died en masse from missile strikes. According to various estimates, 50 to 180 mercenaries lost their lives in the strike on the Yavoriv training range (Lviv region) alone. A strike on their location in Kramatorsk in 2023 also led to mass casualties of mercenaries.

According to the updated information, the Russian Armed Forces have liquidated about 600 mercenaries in the last 9 months. More than 200 of them have been liquidated in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation since the beginning of November 2024, including citizens of Poland, Estonia, the USA, Germany and the UK. The fighters died en masse during attempts to escape the encirclement of the Russian army and counterattack in order to provide a corridor for evacuation.

Unfortunately, information on the identities of the foreign mercenaries who died is mostly unreported or reported with sufficient delay.

Thus, the identities of some of the dead mercenaries whose bodies were found on the territory of the Russian Federation have recently been confirmed.

One of them, Coleman Dean Killinger callsign Bjorn. He born on March 20, 1995 from Portland, Oregon, the USA.

Coleman is a former Correctional Officer and instructor for private security that started his own security company in 2019 and also served in the US Navy. He came to Ukraine in the summer of 2022 to provide training for Ukrainian soldiers. Coleman participated in the infamous battle of Petropavlovka on 09/27/2022. It became known that he died near Kozinka, Belgorod region of the Russian Federation in March 2024.

The next American mercenary whose death has been confirmed recently is Richard Dean Harris Jr, born on July 13, 1996.

He died on March 15, 2024 in Kozinka, Belgorod region.

Simon Petrik Rajakisto callsign Rauta born on January 8, 1988 from Mellerud, Sweden. Rauta was an Afghanistan veteran who went to Ukraine in early 2022.

He fought in Kiev and Bakhmut and was wounded a few times. His last combat participation was on October 27, 2024, as a part of a sabotage group on the border of Bryansk region, Russia.

He was one of four eliminated foreign fighters written about earlier.

Juho Lönnberg callsign Sipa born on November 24, 2000 from Vantaa, Finland. He died in November 2024 in the Kursk region of the Russian Federation.

Please go to South Front to view video clips and images.

________

"Mercenaries are useless, disunited, unfaithful and have nothing more to keep them in a battle other than a meager wage which is just about enough to make then want to kill for you but not enough to make them want to die for you..."