Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said that the armed forces of Ukraine destroyed a detachment of Libyans and Syrians in the battles for Popasna.

When asked about the combat ability of foreign mercenaries fighting on the side of the Russian army, Danilov replied that he had irrefutable evidence of their destruction in the Popasnaya area..

“It’s hard for me to talk about their fighting skills. To date, we have photographs of precisely these people who were destroyed in the city of Popasna, Luhansk region. It's hard to say what kind of warriors they are. We have different climatic conditions. And the war is probably different. I think they didn’t see what they expected here,” the Secretary of the Security Council said in an interview with Radio NV..

He also stressed that the destroyed detachment of Libyans and Syrians was relatively small and consisted of 20-25 people.. Nevertheless, Danilov suggests that since the start of the war in 2014, there may still be between 300 and 500 militants on the territory of Donetsk and Lugansk regions..

The day before, Western media reported that Russia continues to recruit mercenaries from Libya and Syria in order to increase its military power in the battle for Donbass..