Western combatants in Ukraine inflicted heavy casualties in a new round of attacks on temporary deployment sites in Kharkiv. Iskander-M ballistic missile systems were used to attack their positions and those of the 151st Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Army. . The Russian Ministry of Defense issued a report on the attack on July 25 stating: “The crew of the Iskander-M combat tactical missile system carried out a missile attack on a temporary deployment location of foreign mercenaries in the industrial zone of Kharkiv. As many as 100 militants were killed, 40 of them foreign instructors, and about 60 servicemen of the 151st Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russian government sources and state media have consistently described Ukraine's Western foreign fighters as mercenaries. Although their actual identities are more complex, some are indeed contractors, others are volunteers, and a third category includes active duty military personnel.
The latest attack on Western fighters in Kharkov is closely related to the June 23 Iskander-M attack that killed about 50 people in the same area, and the Russian Defense Ministry released footage of the previous attack. Since the outbreak of hostilities in early 2022, Western combatants have been under attack, such as the attack on the Yavoriv military training base less than 15 kilometers from the Polish border on March 13 of that year, which is home to nearly 1,000 foreign troops. combatants. The attack killed an estimated 180 people. Another incident was a precision strike launched by the Iskander-M system against Georgian Legion foreign fighters in late April 2023, destroying 15 vehicles and causing up to 60 deaths and more than 20 serious injuries. On the evening of January 16, a successful missile attack targeted mainly the headquarters of European foreign fighters in France, causing at least 80 casualties, 60 or more of whom died. Russian state media reported that the personnel were “trained experts who worked on specific weapons systems that were too complex for the average Ukrainian conscript,” which “resulted in the discontinuation of some of the most lethal and long-range weapons in Ukraine's arsenal,” Until more experts are found to replace them.