Recently, Libyans and Syrians have begun to fight on the russian side. The UAF recently destroyed a small group of such mercenaries in Popasna, the Luhansk region.
“We have photos of these very people who were killed in the city of Popasna, the Luhansk region. It's hard to say what kind of warriors they are. We have different climatic conditions. And the war must be different. I think they weren't quite expecting what they saw here,” Danilov said.
He added that the unit was completely destroyed. It was small - about 20-25 people.
“How many of them roam the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, partially occupied since 2014, is difficult to say. But I don't think there are thousands of them. It could be 300-500 people: russians cannot physically involve more of them because they are also at war and fighting there,” the Secretary of NSDC explained.
In late March, Ukrainian intelligence reported that russia had already assembled thousands of mercenaries in Syria and Libya. They would be paid 300-600 dollars for participation in hostilities against Ukraine.