Foreign Mercenaries in Ukraine Suffering Significant Losses – Putin

Kiev kicked off its counteroffensive on June 4 after being pumped up with heavy weapons by NATO. A month-and-a-half on, Ukrainian forces have little to show for their operations apart from heavy losses in troops and equipment.

The Ukrainian military has lost “more than” 26,000 troops in the course of its counteroffensive, President Putin has said.

“According to US estimates, the irretrievable losses of Ukraine’s Armed Forces amount to 26,000 personnel,” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in talks with Putin in St. Petersburg on Sunday.

“It’s more. It’s now more than that,” Putin responded.

Putin also commented on the operations of foreign mercenaries fighting on Ukraine’s side, saying they have been taking heavy losses due to their own “stupidity.”

“As far as foreign mercenaries are concerns, they are also taking heavy casualties,” Putin said.

“Heavy losses due to their tactics,” Lukashenko interjected.

“Yes, due to their stupidity,” Putin added.

“Members of the general public of the countries whose governments are sending people to the conflict zone today should also be aware of what is happening there. And we will bring this to the attention of the people so that they can evaluate the actions of their rulers,” Putin added.

The Russian military estimated Saturday that nearly 5,000 foreign mercenaries had been killed fighting in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s special military operation last February, with over 4,900 fleeing the combat zone and leaving Ukraine.

Lukashenko said that according to his information, over 15 Leopard tanks and 20 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles had been destroyed in the space of 24 hours.

Putin appeared to confirm these figures, saying that “so many foreign [pieces of armor] had never been destroyed in one day like this,” and that Russian forces had struck units equipped entirely with foreign equipment.

“It’s necessary to wage a war against the entire NATO bloc,” Lukashenko chimed in. “We can only guess how many soldiers from the Ukrainian Army died there, when so much equipment was destroyed. I know about this because I served as an officer on armored equipment in my own day. So I know what it means to destroy so many armored vehicles, and, most importantly, these vaunted Leopards,” he said.

Source: Sputnik