Almost 46,000 Foreigners Have Signed Contracts with Russian Army Since 2022, Ukraine Says
Ukraine says Russia has signed nearly 46,000 foreign recruits from 151 countries, with many drawn by promised pay, residency and citizenship.
- Brigadier General Dmytro Usov, secretary of Ukraine's Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, disclosed on Monday that nearly 46,000 foreign nationals from 151 countries have signed military contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry.
- Targeting migrants living in Russia without citizenship, Moscow has expanded recruitment by presenting military service as a primary route to obtaining legal residency and a Russian passport.
- Surveys conducted by the Coordination Headquarters found that nearly 50% of foreign prisoners knew they were traveling to Ukraine to fight, while approximately 47% joined specifically seeking Russian citizenship.
- Ukrainian defense forces have captured foreign nationals from 59 countries, including recruits from Indonesia, Peru, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Chad, the Philippines, Congo, Panama, Ecuador, and Zimbabwe.
- For 2026, the Defense Ministry set a recruitment target of 18,500 foreign nationals, with 16,168 already signed, despite earlier warnings from the Foreign Intelligence Service.
28 Articles
28 Articles
As of October 1, 2026, Russia has engaged at least 45,959 foreigners from 151 countries in Africa and the Middle East to war against Ukraine. This was reported in the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. According to them, among foreign mercenaries, more than five thousand are citizens of 43 African countries. “The Kremlin cynically exploits the economic vulnerability of people in the Global South by promising salari…
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has recruited 45,959 foreign citizens from 151 countries and unrecognized territories. Among them are at least 15 persons originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to data from the Ukrainian Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Almost 46,000 foreigners have signed contracts with Russian army since 2022, Ukraine says
This year, the Kremlin has significantly increased its recruitment of foreigners into its army, with 16,168 individuals already identified in the first nine months of 2026, according to Ukraine.
<p>More than 45 thousand foreigners from 151 countries signed contracts with the Russian army - the Coordination Headquarters established 45,959 foreigners who signed contracts with the Russian army. Recruitment grows fastest in Africa and Latin America America.</p>
Ukraine has identified nearly 46,000 foreigners from 151 countries in Russia’s army—and says Moscow is on pace to meet its 2026 hiring plan
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of POWs says this year’s contracts already roughly match all of 2025, while new names keep surfacing from earlier years.
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