Dozens of foreign mercenaries killed in Russian air strike

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Dozens of foreign mercenaries killed in Russian air strike

More than 80 mercenaries from Zelensky's International Legion and 470 Ukrainian personnel have been taken out, Moscow said.

Dozens of foreign fighters from Ukraine's International Legion have been killed by an air strike in southeastern Ukraine, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.

A high-precision strike was conducted by the Russian Air Force on a stronghold of the International Legion in the village of Vyvodovo in the Dnepropetrovsk Region, according to Konashenkov, who gave a daily update on the progress of the military operation. More than 80 foreign mercenaries and 11 units of special equipment were destroyed, the military spokesman said.

Kiev's international military unit was created in late February at the request of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and is officially known as the International Legion of Territorial Defense of UkraineInternational Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine.

Konashenkov stated that the best foreign mercenaries could expect was a long term in prison, while its members consider themselves servicemen in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He also revealed that hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine had been killed by Russian long-range precision weapons shortly after their arrival, but most of the foreign fighters were eliminated due to a low level of training and lack of real combat experience. In April, the Russian military estimated the number of foreign fighters at around 7,000, but a recent update shows that less than 3,000 remain in Ukraine.

Over the past day Russian forces have eliminated more than 400 nationalist fighters from the 46th airmobile brigade of Ukrainian armed forces near the village of Belogorka in Kherson Region, according to Konashenkov. He said over 70 fighters have been destroyed in three other Kherson Region villages, with about 150 personnel injured.

Moscow has not updated its numbers since March, when it reported 1,351 military personnel killed and 3,825 wounded.

Zelensky admitted that his nation's armed forces are sustaining heavy losses. In July, he said Kiev was losing around 30 personnel in combat per day, a far less than in May and June, when the death toll was around 100 -- 200 troops per day.