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.
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.”
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."
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.