Western combatants in Ukraine have taken significant casualties in a new attack on a temporary deployment site in Kharkiv, with Iskander-M ballistic missile systems used to attack their positions and those of the Ukrainian Army 151st Mechanised Brigade. The Russian Defence Ministry reported on July 25 regarding the attack: “The crew of the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system carried out a missile strike on the temporary deployment site of foreign mercenaries in … the industrial zone of the city of Kharkov. As a result of the strike, up to 100 militants were killed, of which 40 were foreign instructors, as well as about 60 servicemen of the 151st mechanised brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces.” Russian government sources and state media have consistently referred to Western foreign fighters in Ukraine as mercenaries, although the reality of their status has been more complex. While some are indeed contractors, others have fought as volunteers, while a third category includes active service members form Western militaries such as the British Royal Marines. Alongside Western countries, contractors have been hired from South America in significant numbers, with Colombian and Brazilian contractors having been captured multiple times from mid-2023.
The latest strike on Western combatants in Kharkiv notably closely follows an Iskander-M attack on June 23 that caused approximately 50 deaths in the same area, with the Russian Defence Ministry having published footage of this prior strike. Western combatants have been singled out for attacks since the outset of hostilities in early 2022, an example being a strike on March 13 that year against a military training base in Yavoriv under 15km from the Polish border where close to 1000 foreign fighters were based. The attack killed an estimated 180 personnel. Another was the precision strike launched by Iskander-M systems on Georgian Legion foreign fighters in late April 2023, destroying 15 vehicles, killing up to 60 personnel and seriously wounding more than 20 more. A successful missile strike on the evening of January 16 targeting the headquarters of predominantly French European foreign fighters caused at least 80 casualties, 60 or more of whom were killed. Russian state media reported that these personnel were “highly trained specialists who work on specific weapons systems too complex for the average Ukrainian conscripts,” which “put some of the most lethal and long-range weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal out of service until more specialists are found” to replace them.