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Ukrainian Intelligence Reveals How Russia Targets Africa to Recruit Soldiers for Ukraine War
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Russia has significantly expanded military recruitment across Africa, targeting poorer countries to replenish its forces amid heavy battlefield losses in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on October 26.
The outlet cited a presentation by people familiar with Ukraine’s intelligence service detailing Moscow’s growing reliance on African recruits. The campaign aims to “offset massive losses and a shortage of people to mobilize,” the document stated.
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According to the intelligence assessment, Russia has increasingly targeted countries with weak democratic institutions, limited press freedom, and inadequate judicial protections.
The recruitment campaign has expanded particularly rapidly in Burundi, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone, following efforts by Kenya and South Africa to prevent their citizens from joining Russian forces.
Between January 1 and September 30, 2026, Russia recruited 699 men from Burundi, compared with just 30 throughout 2025. In Zimbabwe, recruitment increased from 65 men in 2025 to 530 during the first nine months of 2026.
Significant increases were also recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Cameroon, and Sierra Leone.
Russia has also begun recruiting military personnel in Madagascar for the first time since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Following a military coup in 2025, Madagascar strengthened cooperation with Moscow, receiving Russian military equipment and food supplies.
Russian personnel have also provided military training to Malagasy forces.
Recruiters reportedly exploit economic hardship by promising high-paying civilian employment in Russia, including positions in catering and transportation.
Some prospective recruits are misled about the nature of their employment and subsequently deployed to the battlefield in Ukraine. Other incentives include substantial signing bonuses, high salaries, and the possibility of obtaining Russian citizenship.
The intelligence materials also described an online recruitment advertisement circulated in Zimbabwe, promoting a “program for specialists from Zimbabwe.” Applicants were directed to an online eligibility assessment, without explicit warnings that military contracts could lead to frontline deployment.
The surge in African recruitment is part of a far broader foreign-recruitment drive that has grown sharply since 2022, when only 94 such contracts were recorded. For 2026, Moscow set a target of 18,500 foreign recruits, and by mid-October, 16,168 had already signed contracts.
Russia has also used legal and administrative restrictions to pressure migrants living in the country without citizenship. This approach presents military service as one of the few routes to legal residency and a Russian passport, while circumventing opposition from countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America that officially reject the recruitment of their citizens into foreign armed forces.
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