MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Foreign mercenaries took part in the battles for the settlement of Raigorodka of the Lugansk People’s Republic on the side of the Ukrainian army, Alexander Melnikov, an officer of the department for joint training and interaction with the armed forces of the organizational and planning department of the Moscow military district combat training directorate, said in an interview with TASS.
"There were already mercenary units that behaved aggressively there. We [encountered them] from afar. I had to send them my warm greetings so that we wouldn't see each other again," he commented on the "meeting" with the mercenaries.
According to him, they heard English and Georgian, but did not communicate personally. When asked what the Russian military would say to these mercenaries at a meeting, the officer replied: "I probably would say nothing. Everything could be proved by deed."
Melnikov, as chief of staff of the motorized rifle battalion, led the battle in the area of Raigorodka, when 14 people repelled an offensive of superior enemy forces, killed over 50 enemy soldiers, including mercenaries, destroyed a tank and several armored vehicles. Raigorodka was liberated at the very beginning of the special military operation.