Ukraine’s New Foreign Legion Takes the Fight to Russian Forces; Russian death toll surpasses 12,000; Forbes: Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian equipment worth $5.1 billion; NY Post/WSJ: Russia-Ukraine News LATEST UPDATES, and other related stories

Ukraine’s New Foreign Legion Takes the Fight to Russian Forces:

President Volodymyr Zelensky appeals to battle-hardened veterans in race to augment its ranks

Irakli Okruashvili, a former defense minister of Georgia, last week joined a Ukrainian foreign-fighter regiment created to face down the Russian invasion in a hurry. Three days later, he and a group of countrymen, former special-forces soldiers, made contact with Russian troops north of Kyiv.

With a U.S.-supplied .50-caliber Barrett M99 single-shot anti-armor precision rifle, the Georgian unit disabled two Russian armed vehicles, Mr. Okruashvili said, before falling under a sustained reply from 152-millimeter howitzer cannons.

After several hours, Ukrainian planes bombed the Russian artillery positions, silencing them.

A combination of international arms and foreign volunteers has joined Ukraine’s efforts to impede the Russian advance in the third week of the conflict, and are now playing a growing role as the fighting spreads.

“We already passed this way in 2008 when we had a war with Russia,” Mr. Okruashvili said, referring to Moscow’s invasion of Georgia that year. “Ukraine is not fighting only for its own freedom, its own sovereignty, its own independence. This is not the war of Ukraine only.”

Kyiv is welcoming all outside assistance. The forces at its disposal are far smaller than those of Russia and are unable to fight on an equal footing. Russia’s armed forces count 900,000 personnel, compared with Ukraine’s 209,000 active troops, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London think tank. The Ukrainian number doesn’t include recent mobilizations.

Addressing this imbalance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month announced the formation of the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine, appealing to veteran soldiers outside the country who have specialized skills and experience in war to join the fight. —>READ MORE HERE

Russian death toll surpasses 12,000, Ukraine says:

Russian troop casualties have surpassed 12,000 as neighboring Ukraine tries to fend off the invaders, the country announced Friday.

Ukraine has shown remarkable strength amid Russian aggression, killing thousands of invaders and inflicting over $5 billion worth of losses on the Kremlin’s military equipment, per Ukrainian news outlet Ukrinform.

“The number of killed Russian servicemen on the territory of Ukraine already exceeds 12,000 people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday. “The number of wounded invaders is many times bigger. We did not invite any of them here. And we repeat to each of the invaders, you can still save yourself at any moment. Just lay down your weapons and go home. Leave our land.”

The Kremlin hasn’t released statistics about its losses since March 2, when it pegged the number of Russians killed at roughly 500. Warring nations have public relations incentives to sway casualty count estimates. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to relevant related stories:

+++++Russia-Ukraine News LATEST UPDATES: (NY POST) and (WSJ)+++++

+++++Forbes: Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian equipment worth $5.1 billion+++++

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