Russian Forces Hit Base of Western Foreign Fighters in Odessa

<p >Russian forces have struck a facility hosting Western fighters in Ukraine’s Odessa region, with the kind of asset used in the attack remaining unconfirmed. Such forces have consistently been singled out by Russian attacks since the outset of open hostilities in February 2022. Earlier in the month a missile strike <a href=" >eliminated</a> up to 30 foreign fighters and six units of hardware at a temporary deployment point in the Stetskovka area, while a large attack much earlier in the year on January 16 <a href=" >targeted the headquarters</a> of European contractors, predominantly of French origin, causing at least 80 casualties 60 or more of which were killed. Russian state media reported in January that these personnel were “highly trained specialists who work on specific weapons systems too complex for the average Ukrainian conscripts,” which “put some of the most lethal and long-range weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal out of service until more specialists are found” to replace them. </p><p >Western advisors, logisticians, combatants, and other personnel operating newly delivered NATO-standard hardware have played a <a href=" target="_blank">central and growing role </a>in the war effort since early 2022, ranging from<a href=" > British Royal Marines deployed</a> for frontline combat operations from April that year at the latest, to <a href=" >SAS advisors</a> supporting armoured offensives against Russian positions. The Ukrainian-led <a href=" >assault on the Russian Kursk region</a> launched on August 6 has notably seen foreign personnel play a <a href=" >significant role</a>, with American Forward Observations Group forces having been pictured operating in the region. Ukrainian personnel involved in the Kursk operation have themselves attested to the presence of Western personnel, including Polish, French and English speakers. This has been vital to facilitating the use of a number of newly delivered Western weapons systems, and in many cases to bolstering manpower in units fielding new equipment as Ukraine’s <a href=" target="_blank">better trained units </a>have taken extreme losses.</p>