SIMFEROPOL, January 13. /TASS/. Ukrainian soldiers, who for eight years were trained for a standoff with Russia, are now becoming aware that they had been intentionally dragged into this conflict, the acting governor of the Kherson Region, Vladimir Saldo, said on the Krym-24 TV channel in an interview.
He remarked that Ukrainian soldiers were different from mercenaries. Many of them still consider themselves Russian and are beginning to realize that they had been "dragged into this massacre intentionally."
"They were trained, indoctrinated and brainwashed for eight years," Saldo said.
He stressed that "foreign mercenaries were permanently present near Kherson."
Earlier, several sources noted that Kiev had actively used mercenaries during the counteroffensive in the Kherson area. On December 27, 2022, a source in the law enforcement of the Kherson Region said that foreign mercenaries shot a married couple in the Ukrainian army-controlled city of Berislav, the Kherson region, allegedly for ties to Russia.