1,800 foreigners a month: Russia recruits at record pace as Uganda confirms 27 citizens dead or missing

The scale of recruitment

Around 1,800 foreigners sign contracts with the Russian army every month, Andrii Yusov, deputy head of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, told hromadske. “Every month 1,800 foreigners agree to go and kill Ukrainians,” he said.

The trend is steep. In 2022 fewer than 100 foreigners were known to be serving in Russia’s forces; in just nine months of 2026 the number exceeded 16,000. According to intelligence, Russia planned to recruit 18,500 foreigners in 2026, and that target is likely to be exceeded soon. In total, the headquarters holds personal data on almost 49,000 foreigners who signed contracts and served or are serving in the Russian army.

Yusov compared the figures with European armies: Belgium’s entire army numbers about 20,000, Austria’s 22,000 and Slovakia’s up to 16,000. “So this really is a global threat, far from only against Ukraine. And it is gaining momentum,” he said.

Why Russia does it

Recruiting foreigners lets the Kremlin reduce social tension and demographic losses among its own population, Yusov explained. A mercenary costs less than a Russian citizen, and Moscow has little interest in sending foreigners home because their countries of origin then start asking questions. Russia does not release foreigners even after their contracts expire — the headquarters knows of more than 3,000 such cases.

Earlier, the headquarters’ secretary Dmytro Usov said Russia’s Defence Ministry had signed contracts with almost 46,000 foreigners from 151 countries. About half of the foreign prisoners of war interviewed by Ukraine knew they were going to fight.

Uganda: 27 dead or missing

On the same day Reuters reported on a letter from Uganda’s embassy in Moscow to the country’s foreign ministry. It names 11 Ugandans confirmed dead and 16 whose bodies could not be located anywhere, including among prisoners of war. The embassy received the information from Russia’s foreign ministry through a note verbale, a formal diplomatic communication. An official at Uganda’s foreign ministry confirmed the letter was authentic; Russia’s embassy in Kampala did not immediately respond.

According to Reuters, reports of African men being lured to Russia with promises of jobs and ending up on the front line in Ukraine have become frequent, triggering anger in Kenya, Ghana and South Africa. Last year Ukraine said more than 1,400 citizens of three dozen African countries were fighting for Russia, some recruited through deception. Russian authorities deny illegally recruiting Africans. Recently, near Lyman in Donetsk region, soldiers of the 63rd Mechanised Brigade captured a mercenary from Uganda.

Why it matters

The headquarters’ figures show the flow of foreigners into Russia’s army is accelerating: in nine months of 2026 alone, more than 160 times as many arrived as in the whole of 2022. Recruiting foreigners lets Russia replenish its forces without a new large-scale mobilisation of its own citizens. For countries of origin it is a question of security and of protecting citizens who are sent to war, often by deception.