MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Russian forces delivered strikes by precision weapons to eliminate hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine soon after their arrival, Defense Ministry Spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday.

"Hundreds of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine were eliminated by Russian long-range precision weapons soon after their arrival at the places of training and cohesion of tactical units," the spokesman said.

The larger part of mercenaries was eliminated in the combat area due to the low level of their preparedness and the absence of real combat experience, the general said.

The commanders of Ukrainian army and National Guard units are not sparing mercenaries to reduce losses among their own troops, Konashenkov specified.

"The captured mercenaries are saying during interrogations that they are sacrificed in the first place. As the Kiev regime hushes up losses and the body remains are absent, the relatives of mercenaries in the countries of their living are simply unaware of their deaths," the general added.

The inflow of foreign mercenaries into Ukraine to fight against Russian troops has waned since early May and their number has halved to 3,500, Konashenkov said.

"We see that the inflow of foreign mercenaries into Ukraine to fight against the Russian Armed Forces has actually waned since the beginning of May. According to the data available to us, the number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine has dwindled actually twofold, from 6,600 to 3,500," the spokesman said.

The number of mercenaries in combat formations of the Ukrainian army and National Guard in Donbass "has fallen by orders of magnitude," the general said.