900 US PMCs in Ukraine: “Ukrainian Command Throws Foreign Mercs into ‘Meat-Grinder’”
Since the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, approx. 11,675 private military contractors (PMCs) from 84 countries have joined the Ukrainian Foreign Legion, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed July 10. As the Ukrainian counteroffensive stalls, Western volunteers worry about being used as cannon fodder and thrown into the “meat grinder”, Russia claims.
The largest numbers of mercenaries apparently came from Poland (over 2,600), the US and Canada (over 900 from each), Georgia (over 800), Great Britain and Romania (over 700 each), Croatia (over 300), as well as from France and the part of Syria controlled by Turkey (over 200 each), Russia Today reports.
An unknown number of “retired” American service members have volunteered to fight in Ukraine, in addition to active DoD and CIA personnel deployed in-country.
The CIA mainstains “a network of commandos and spies among European partners set up to provide critical weapons and military intelligence to Ukraine,” Responsible Statecraft writes. “Even as the Biden administration has declared it will not deploy American troops to Ukraine, some C.I.A. personnel have continued to operate in the country secretly, mostly in the capital, Kyiv, directing much of the massive amounts of intelligence the United States is sharing with Ukrainian forces”, according to the New York Times.