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Foreign POWs in Ukraine Double in 2025, Exposing Russia’s Global Recruitment Push
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russia’s growing manpower crisis is pushing Moscow into increasingly aggressive—and often deceptive—recruitment of foreign nationals to fight in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials and accounts from captured fighters, according to CNN on November 25.
Nearly 200 foreign soldiers from 37 countries are currently held as prisoners of war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War told reporters. Many come from Africa, South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East. Despite different backgrounds, they describe a similar story: Russian recruiters promised jobs, legal residency, or money—but delivered them straight to the front lines.
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Brig. Gen. Dmytro Usov, who leads Ukraine’s POW coordination headquarters, said Kyiv has identified more than 18,000 foreigners from 128 countries who have fought or are still fighting for Russia.
And this number is not including thousands of North Korean troops Moscow reportedly deployed under a bilateral military agreement. The real number, he said, is almost certainly far higher.
🇬🇭 A mercenary from Ghana in the Russian Armed Forces, another foreigner recruited by Russian special services, motivated by money and promises of citizenship. pic.twitter.com/3kdsvmIXg0
— MAKS 25 🇺🇦👀 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) November 9, 2025
CNN notes that several governments have recently demanded that Russia stop recruiting their citizens. Kenya’s president warned this month that young Kenyans were being “illegally recruited.”
South Africa opened an investigation after 17 of its citizens sent distress messages from occupied Donbas. India said it has asked Moscow to release 44 Indian nationals fighting for Russia and “put an end to this practice.”
A mercenary from #Bangladesh in the #Russian army.
— Віталік «Донецк» Овчаренко 🇺🇦 (@Vit_Ovchar) November 22, 2025
In Ukrainian captivity he will say that he was forced to serve in the Russian army.
(Найманець з Бангладешу в російській армії). pic.twitter.com/vZNW5SyNYd
Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence told CNN the number of foreigners on the front has surged each year since Russia’s full-scale invasion. Foreign POWs captured in the first nine months of 2025 already doubled last year’s total.
Western intelligence agencies estimate Russia has suffered more than one million casualties, including over 250,000 killed. With domestic recruitment collapsing—and the Kremlin terrified of announcing another mobilization—Moscow is filling the gap with cash bonuses, fast-tracked passports, threats of deportation, and false job offers.
According to Ukrainian intelligence and human rights groups, migrants from Central Asia are especially vulnerable. Russia now offers visas, residency, and even citizenship for military service—and threatens to strip citizenship from naturalized migrants who avoid registration, CNN stated.
One Russian official publicly boasted that 20,000 Central Asian-born Russian citizens are already fighting in Ukraine.
Mercenaries from Somali, Syria and India found in the ranks of the russian🇷🇺army. russia🇷🇺 now using citizens of these countries to kill Europeans. pic.twitter.com/2noUiRFcAE
— FarleyFella (@Farleymarley16) December 30, 2023
Russia’s online recruitment push has exploded. An analysis by the research group OpenMinds found that one in three military-contract ads on VKontakte now targets foreigners, compared with just 7% a year ago.
Campaigns in Arabic promise “$2,000–$2,500 salaries, free healthcare and visas,” while Chinese-language ads pitch the war as a test of masculinity—“Be a real man!”
CNN recalls that many foreign POWs say they were lured by promises of security or construction jobs in Russia, only to be forced into military units after arrival.
Some reported being told they would not join assault units—only to be shipped directly to high-casualty “storm” brigades within weeks.
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Usov said Ukrainian forces have confirmed at least 3,388 foreign fighters killed serving in Russia’s ranks.
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reported that at least 1,436 citizens from 36 African countries are fighting in the ranks of Russia’s invasion army in Ukraine.
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-72b63a4e0c8c475ad81fe3eed3f63729.jpeg "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
