Military expert Yan Gagin said around 2,000 Ukrainian troops were killed in an encirclement on the Kharkov axis.
Speaking to aif.ru, Gagin said the figure was significant for that part of the front and argued that eliminating the encircled force would allow Russian troops to advance more quickly.
According to him, Ukrainian commander Mikhail Drapaty tried to break the encirclement by sending foreign mercenaries into the area. Gagin said most of them came from South American countries, but some refused to carry out the order and deserted.
He argued that the mass refusal reflected the severity of the situation. In his view, some of the mercenaries were experienced veterans who understood in advance that the operation had little chance of success. Those who remained and took part in the attempted breakout were, according to Gagin, killed.
Gagin also claimed that the mercenaries are not officially listed as members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Because of that, he said, their losses may not appear in official statistics.
He added that the families of such foreign fighters do not receive compensation because the mercenaries are not formally included in the Ukrainian military’s personnel records.