“We Are Meat”: Egyptian National Reflects on Being Recruited to Fight for Russia in Ukraine

An Egyptian national was captured as a POW by the Ukrainian Armed Forces after joining the Russian forces. The captured individual stated that he signed a contract with the Russian army as his visa was expiring.

According to report from “Donbas Realities,” the 25-year-old man was captured near the village of Peremoha, close to Marinka. He recounted that their task was to reach a specific point, establish a position, and remain there. After two days of enduring shelling, the group decided to surrender.

“There was no communication, no water, nothing,” he explained. “So we said: 'Guys, we are surrendering.' But nobody on the other side was responding. A Ukrainian soldier told us, 'Follow the drone.' So we did just that.”

Ukrainian military personnel from the 33rd Brigade filmed the moment the Russian forces surrendered while attempting to reach the Ukrainian drone. Two Russian soldiers in their group were reportedly killed by Russian artillery fire during this retreat.

The captured Egyptian revealed that he graduated from a linguistics program in Russia, where he studied English and Russian. He signed a contract with the Russian forces on March 3 of this year due to his visa situation. “I am an Egyptian citizen. I signed the contract this year because my visa was about to expire. I read online that according to the law, if you are not a Russian citizen, they cannot send you to the Special Military Operation,” he stated.

However, he soon found himself deployed to the frontlines. The individual insisted that he had refused to fight in Ukraine, claiming that he had been granted Russian citizenship without his knowledge. “I was shocked because I didn’t even apply for any documents to the Ministry of Internal Affairs,” he said, adding that someone else submitted the application to enable his deployment to the Russia’s war against Ukraine.

He described his experience, stating, “They put me in a room that looked like a prison so I wouldn’t escape. Then they loaded me into a KAMAZ and took me to a training ground, where I was assigned to an assault group sent to storm the Kurokhiv direction. The conditions were horrific.”

He further asserted, “Honestly, we are meat. If you don’t want to go on a mission, they can shoot you or put you in a pit. In the pit, you can’t see anything. I know a person who sat in a pit for three weeks.”

Russia has increasingly relied on foreign nationals for its operations against Ukraine, often enticing them with promises of visa extensions and citizenship in exchange for military service. Reports indicate that students and migrants have been targeted as part of this strategy, as the Kremlin seeks to bolster its ranks amid dwindling mobilization resources.