Destroyed houses in MariupolMOSCOW, Apr 17Kyiv attracted only about 7,000 mercenaries from different countries, by today there are less than 5,000 left, the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov, told reporters. from 63 states.The largest group arrived from Poland — 1717 people. About one and a half thousand mercenaries arrived from the USA, Canada, and Romania. From the UK and Georgia, each — up to 300 people. From the Turkish-controlled areas of the Syrian Arab Republic, 193 people arrived «, — said the general. According to him, the vast majority of mercenaries are now distributed as part of Ukrainian groups in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkov, Odessa, Nikolaev and Mariupol.» in the city of Belaya Tserkov.As a result of hostilities, the number of landlords is steadily declining and today is 4877 people,» the general said. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, as of March 25, they have completed the main tasks of the first stage — they have significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
