Media in France
acknowledges presence of French mercenaries in Ukraine


Sources from France’s TF1 TV channel said that there are 60-70 people with French citizenship in Ukraine, and another 200-300 with dual citizenship. At the same time, journalists could not confirm information on the death toll after the Russian Armed Forces struck the location of foreign mercenaries in Kharkov.
Paris will not officially comment on the death of its citizens in Ukraine, as mercenary activities are prohibited in France, political and strategic analyst Xavier Moreau told the media outlet.
Ukraine’s Growing Addiction to Foreign Mercenaries
Sputnik correspondent Russell Bentley explains that the Russian missile strike against French mercenaries in Kharkov was a painful blow for the Ukrainian military, which is increasingly dependent on hired-guns from abroad.
“The European mercenaries tend to be highly trained specialists who work on specific weapons systems too complex for the average Ukrainian conscripts and Nazi footsoldiers to operate efficiently.
This strike did not just eliminate a couple of platoons of enemy soldiers, it put some of the most lethal and long-range weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal out of service until more specialists are found to replace the fried mercs that were eliminated.
There has been a major influx of high quality mercenaries with special skill sets in the last few months. The reason for this increase in foreign professional soldiers was
to replace the Ukrainian special forces who were almost completely wiped out in the Ukrainian failed "summer offensive", as well as to try to make a desperate (but futile) attempt to forestall the inevitable Russian offensive.”
“A large number of foreign mercenaries” are stationed in Kharkov in eastern Ukraine, Christelle Neant, a French journalist in the Donbass, told Sputnik.
Kiev and Western countries “know perfectly well that Ukraine still cannot win,” she said.
These foreign mercenaries will be housed in "barracks built by the Soviet Union", these places are "obviously known to the Russians there too, and I think this will happen again", explains Laurent Brayard, a French war correspondent in the Donbass adding that “we also had many examples of Russian attacks on Ukrainian military headquarters, and Russian intelligence is extremely effective.”
Some 60 mercenaries, mostly French, were killed in a Russian air strike on Tuesday. The French Ambassador was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry after the destruction of the location of foreign mercenaries in Kharkov, among whom were French, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova told Sputnik.
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Seems those French "formations" aren't really worth much against Russia. Oh well. Better luck next war.