Russia-Ukraine War Update: Russia Deploys 200,000 Soldiers to Capture Eastern Ukraine

Russia has officially moved up to 200,000 soldiers for military action from nations including Syria and Libya, without armed vehicles or large warfare equipment. These professional soldiers hired to serve in an army outside their home countries are called mercenaries. As of now, there are an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 of them in Eastern Ukraine alone.

The Russian mercenary company, the Wagner Group, mainly recruited Syrian and Libyan soldiers who had previous experience fighting in a war, offering them between $600 and $3000 to fight in Ukraine, depending on their rank.

“I think it’s almost inhumane what they (Russia) are doing,” said Eva G., a junior at AISG. “Especially since Russia has had the upper hand in this war for a while, it just seems cruel.”

Russia’s goal in deploying numerous mercenaries is for them to take hold of as much of Eastern Ukraine as possible to commence the second stage of its war in Ukraine. It is believed that Russia still possesses three-fourths of the military forces it deployed at the beginning of the war in February of this year, accumulating about 60,000 troops.

Russian military commanders are also looking to defeat Ukrainian marines in Mariupol as they take their final stand and prevent Ukraine from fighting in Donbas by freeing their troops in Mariupol and sending them North.

The Russian army primarily uses railroad networks and currently cannot provide air support close to their troops. Ukraine has gained seven planes full of defensive equipment from an $800 million grant from the United States that has recently been approved, along with a supply of spare parts for aircrafts.