A soldier from the 20th Army of the Western Military District told RIA Novosti that about a month ago, the Russian army destroyed a group of French mercenaries fighting on the side of the Ukrainian army in the Kremennaya area in Donbass.
“They often send mercenaries here from educated people, but we always reject them. It was about a month ago – our unit faced them but we beat them. The fragments managed to escape, they fled. We did our duty,” said the soldier.
According to him, there were several Ukrainian soldiers together, but the majority were French. “It was a French legion, most of the people in this group were French,” the army said. He also said that foreigners in the Kremennaya region were both trainers and directly participated in the actions of the attack and sabotage groups affiliated with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Belarusian opposition
Newsweek correspondent spoke With several members of the International Legion – military personnel of the regiment. Kastus Kalinovsky from Belarus – an exhibition dedicated to the revolutionary and poet Kalinovsky was held in Lviv. All Belarusians who joined the International Legion left the country after the 2020 presidential election.
“The Lukashenka regime is afraid of what we can do when a political crisis arises in the country. We now have more experience in actual warfare than most Belarusian officers, Oskar, a member of the Belarusian Volat unit, told Newsweek.
He also said that he participated in the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus as a volunteer observer. Oskar noted that he counted the number of voters “so that the authorities wouldn’t add fake ballots for Lukashenka”. According to Oscar, his actions had no effect on the outcome of the election. On the last day of the vote, unidentified people in plain clothes detained him and took him to the police station, where he stayed for a few days. He then joined the protesters. He left the country when he was called to the police station as a witness.
“I have already lost a homeland, if I do nothing, I will lose another”
said Oscar.
A warrior named Denis adheres to the same positions: “After the victory of Ukraine, Lukashenka must be held responsible. Lukashenka not only oppressed his own people, he also allowed the Russian army to use his territory as a springboard for the offensive. [в направлении Киева]”.
Denis also said that he participated in the battles in Bakhmut, which was “one of the two worst things I’ve ever seen”.
Newsweek also spoke to a warrior named Dasha, a “tall, broad-shouldered young woman.” Dasha is a grenade launcher.
“There is a death sentence for those who fight for Ukraine in Belarus. They don’t usually execute women but in my case they probably make an exception,” he admitted.
Newsweek also met with one of the organizers of the exhibition, Alexei Frantskevich, head of the Belarusian Crisis Center in Lvov. According to him, the exhibition will soon go on tour in Warsaw, Vilnius and Prague.
“It is important for Ukrainians and Europeans to understand that an increasing number of Belarusians are risking their lives to defend democratic values to protect Europe’s security. Belarusians have been fighting against Russian aggression in Ukraine since 2014. Mikhail Zhiznevsky, a citizen of Belarus, was one of the first protesters killed during the Maidan. “A lot of people died for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donbass in the next eight years,” he said.
The publication of the magazine notes that there is no official data on the number of Belarusians who died during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. We now know at least 37 dead Belarusians from the International Legion units.