Two Belgian fighters are said to have been killed in Ukraine, according to statistics from the Russian Ministry of Defense, which were published by the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
Since the start of Russia’s assault on Ukraine on 24 February, 14 Belgians are said to have travelled to Ukraine to fight against the Russians, De Morgen reports. Nine of the Belgians have since returned home, while three are still in the warzone. The other two were killed in the fighting.
300 Belgian soldiers were sent to the neighbouring Romania, where they are part of the NATO Rapid Reaction Force deployed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Wednesday, three Belgian soldiers were sent back from Romania after "internal tensions".
The Kremlin refers to the fighters as “foreign mercenaries fighting for Kyiv” in its statistics. Most of them are from Poland, Canada, and the United States.
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Poland has by far the greatest number of fighters joining Ukrainian forces. “Since the start of the special military operation, 1,831 Polish mercenaries have already arrived in Ukraine, 378 of whom were killed in action and 272 left for their homeland. Romania and Great Britain complete the European top three,” Russian defence officials state.
The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet commented on the figures.
