On Thursday, Russia's Defence Ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said that the West has increased the dispatch to Ukraine of contract soldiers from private military companies and several European countries are sending mercenaries.
The military operation in Ukraine is going according to plan, and all tasks are being implemented "successfully", Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his address to the Russian Security Council.
"Our soldiers fight steadfastly, with a full understanding of the justice of their cause, even after being wounded, they remain in formation, sacrifice themselves [...] in order to save comrades and civilians," Putin said, noting that Russian troops are striving to prevent civilian casualties in Ukraine.
Putin also said that nationalists and foreign mercenaries in Ukraine are using civilians as human shields. They have not kept their promise to remove heavy military equipment from residential areas, he continued.
"Instead of fulfilling promises to remove this equipment from residential areas, from kindergartens, hospitals, on the contrary, tanks, artillery, mortars are being additionally deployed there," he said.
Foreigners Held Hostage
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