Another Estonian Mercenary Dies in Ukraine – Report

The Russian Defense Ministry earlier stated that thousands of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine are used as “cannon fodder” by the Zelensky regime.

An Estonian mercenary has died in eastern Ukraine as a result of a Russian drone strike, an Estonian newspaper quoted several unnamed sources as saying.

The sources claimed that Tanel Kriggul, who had the call sign “Stinger”, was killed near the Kiev-controlled town of Liman in the Donetsk region late last week. According to the newspaper, Kriggul became the second Estonian national to die in Ukraine while fighting for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The media outlet previously reported that former Estonian Defense Forces officer Ivo Jurak of the Ukrainian International Legion was killed near the city of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) as a result of Russian artillery shelling.

In late July, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that foreign mercenaries “suffer significant losses” in Ukraine “because of their stupidity.” He pledged that Russia would bring information about the scale of losses among the mercenaries to the attention of Western countries.

The remarks came after Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Moscow sees high levels of activity of foreign private military companies (PMCs) in the Russian special operation zone. According to her, they are “involved in crimes committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis.”

Zakharova added that “foreigners fighting on the side of the Kiev regime, as well as the national governments covering them” should know that Western mercenaries fighting there are legitimate targets.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD), in turn, said in July that the Zelensky regime had stepped up recruitment of mercenaries in the US and Canada in what was instigated by the US’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the PMCs.

"Due to a decline in interest in dying for the Kiev regime in Poland, the UK, and other European countries, recruitment activities in the US and Canada have intensified," the MoD said, adding that the regime uses foreign mercenaries as "cannon fodder."

“Their lives are not spared by anyone in the Ukrainian command. Therefore, they have only one choice - to flee Ukraine or to die. The Russian Armed Forces will continue to destroy foreign mercenaries in the course of the special military operation, regardless of their location on the territory of Ukraine," according to the MoD.

The ministry also said at the time that since the beginning of the Russian special military operation, at least 11,675 foreign mercenaries from 84 countries have arrived in Ukraine to fight against Russian forces. As of July, a total of 4,845 foreign mercenaries had died, while 4,801 more escaped from Ukraine, per the MoD.