When he has an army of 900,000 why would he want more ragtag troops speaking a different language and what's the pay? Ukraine is paying anywhere from $1,000-$3,000 per day for skilled troops that are being sent into the fray. Mercenaries have been around for a long time. The Romans had them but in today's warfare communication is far more important and the weapons far more destructive. We (read NATO) are arming the Ukraine Army with sophisticated weapons and even down to the civilian recruits since the war started, they are getting Javelins and Drones that are doing tremendous damage and will do more.