Russian airstrikes on the Rivne region (northwestern Ukraine) targeted a Ukrainian military unit and mercenaries from Poland, Sergey Lebedev, coordinator of pro-Russian covert work groups in the Mykolaiv region (southern Ukraine), revealed on Tuesday.

Lebedev told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that after the military unit was targeted, artillery depots near a military airport in the Khmelnytskyi region (western Ukraine) were hit, followed by powerful explosions.

He also mentioned that Russian forces targeted assembly areas of Ukrainian troops near Kiev, who were likely to be sent to the Chernihiv region near the border with Belarus.

In September, a Russian strike targeting a training center in Ukraine's Poltava resulted in the deaths and injuries of approximately 500 military specialists, including mercenaries from Europe, Sputnik reported, citing a senior military official.

The strike, which took place on September 3, killed and wounded "servicepeople of the Ukrainian armed forces and the National Guard - communication specialists, operators of radio-electronic warfare systems, electronic intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as foreign mercenaries from Poland, France, Germany, and Sweden, who were training the Ukrainian military," the source said in a statement.

In mid-March, the Russian Defense Ministry announced, during an update on the number of foreign mercenaries, that there were 2,960 mercenaries from Poland with 1,497 of them reportedly dead.

The US comes in second with at least 491 of its 1,113 mercenaries dead, the report highlighted.

It added that mercenary fighters have come from NATO members Romania and the UK, with France being the source of fewer militants, as 147 French nationals have died out of 356 who have been deployed.

In total, the Ministry revealed that 13,000 foreigners have fought for Kiev and around 6,000 have died.

Russian defenses intercept Ukrainian drones

In a related development, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday the downing of a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod region (southwestern Russia) this morning.

Additionally, Russian air defenses intercepted and downed a Ukrainian drone during the night over the Bryansk region (southwestern Russia).

Ukrainian forces routinely target Russia’s border areas in the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, and Voronezh regions, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, with drones and missiles.