Russia Accuses Foreign Mercenaries In Mariupol, Drops Ukrainian Drone Outside City

Major General Igor Konashenkov (Source: Press Office of the Russian Ministry of Defense/Sergei Bobylev)

JAKARTA - Russia has accused many foreign mercenaries in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, with its armed forces, of successfully bringing down enemy drones outside the city, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Russian air defense forces have downed three Ukrainian drones, including a Bayraktar, said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov.

"Russian air defenses have shot down three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Of them, two were shot down outside Mariupol and Kalininskoe, while another, the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2, near Sakhnovschina, Kharkov region," he explained, TASS reported April 10.

According to Konashenkov, in the past 24 hours, tactical flights of the Russian Air Force and Army missile forces hit 65 Ukrainian military targets. Among the targets were four command and communications posts, three logistics depots, as well as 41 forts and concentration areas for Ukrainian military hardware.

Previously, Konashenkov mentioned many foreign mercenaries residing in the Mariupol region, based on radio traffic intercepted from Mariupol indicating communication in the languages of European countries.

"The troops of the Donetsk People's Republic and units of the Russian army continue their joint operation to liberate the city of Mariupol. According to radio traffic intercepted together with the Nazis from the Azov battalion and regular Ukrainian troops, there are many foreign mercenaries in the occupied territories. Along with Ukrainian and Russian languages, six more, mostly European languages are spoken," he said.

“Not defenders of values, Europeans but foreign mercenaries, who came here to kill the Slavs for American dollars hiding behind the human shields of civilians, are now confined in the city,” Konashenkov noted.

He recalled that the Kyiv nationalist regime refused to withdraw militants from Mariupol.

"The city will inevitably be liberated by DPR troops and Russian army units," he added.

For information, Russia said it already knew the location of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine, and said it would continue attacks on the facility. Konashenkov himself warned in early March that captured foreign mercenaries would not be considered prisoners of war as under international humanitarian law.