OREANDA-NEWS. Since the beginning of the military operation, the Ukrainian authorities have attracted about 7,000 foreign mercenaries from 63 countries to the country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing on April 20. According to her, Western countries support Kyiv not only with weapons, but simply with personnel, supplying mercenaries there.

Since the beginning of the special military operation, the Kyiv regime has attracted to Ukraine, according to open data, about 7,000 foreign mercenaries from 63 states, the diplomat said.

Zakharova noted that the majority of mercenaries come from Poland, the United States, Canada, Romania and Georgia, while there are some states that actively oppose this. The diplomat added that Ukrainian embassies with the support of Washington are engaged in recruiting mercenaries around the world.

Earlier, Zakharova said that in the UK "literally in a second" they turned away from the citizens of their country, Aiden Eslin and Sean Pinner, who were captured in Ukraine, and considered their capture as a "personal matter."

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Kyiv has attracted a total of about seven thousand mercenaries from 63 countries. So, according to the department, there are up to 400 mercenaries in the territory of the Mariupol Azovstal plant as part of the Ukrainian group.