The Russian Ministry of Defense has announced that 90 citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina who fought on the side of the authorities in Kyiv have been killed in conflicts in Ukraine so far.
According to Russian data, 207 mercenaries from Bosnia and Herzegovina have arrived in the country since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. The highest number of foreign fighters from the Balkans who have come to fight on the side of Kyiv in the past two years was from Croatia (335), of which 152 were killed, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina, while 192 fighters from Albania have been engaged in the Ukrainian forces so far, of which 87 were killed.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, 191 mercenaries from the so-called Kosovo have arrived in Ukraine, of which 87 have been killed so far.
A Dangerous Trend
Security expert, Dževad Galijašević, claims to Srpskainfo that the total number of mercenaries from Bosnia and Herzegovina fighting on the side of Ukraine is definitely much higher than the number published by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
“The trend of departures from Bosnia and Herzegovina to the battlefield in Ukraine is followed by the military industry in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which injects huge quantities of weapons and ammunition for Ukraine. Howitzers, mortars, and artillery ammunition have gone there. Everything that is in the program of seven organizations, i.e., factories of the defense industry in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is already in Ukraine,” claims Galijašević.
What, according to him, is missing from the data of the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the number of fighters who have been transferred from the battlefield in Syria to Ukraine.
“There are also parts of Islamist formations whose members are not recorded as citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although they have its citizenship. Many jihadists from the Middle East have been withdrawn so as not to interfere with Israeli actions in Palestine, and they have been used as a resource for carrying out terrorist attacks towards Russia,” emphasizes Galijašević.
Ethnic Structure
However, as he adds, they do not face some “disorganized” army, but the Russian military, so, as he says, it is not surprising that more than a third of them have died on the Ukrainian battlefield.
“The ethnic structure of the deceased is almost exclusively Bosniak. It is assumed that among the deceased there are 17 Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in the total ratio of those who went to the Ukrainian battlefield, Bosniaks and Croats are in a half-half ratio. However, as I already mentioned, the data about Islamists who have been withdrawn from Syria, Iraq, and parts of Afghanistan, who have Bosnian citizenship, is missing. It’s impossible to give this data precisely since they are recorded in some Chechen and Dagestani units,” states Galijašević.
When asked whether it is known how many citizens of Republika Srpska went to Ukraine to fight on the Russian side, Galijašević responds that this number is “quite small.”
“Such data was previously published by the West, stating 13 people from Republika Srpska participating in the war conflicts, however, this data has not been verified. The Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska also had data that some people from Srpska had gone there, and it is presumed that this is about a total of 13 persons from Serbia and Republika Srpska. It’s obvious that Serbs have not rushed to the front lines in this war, although they support Russia’s right to defense in Ukraine,” says Galijašević.
Source: RTRS
