Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
The war in Ukraine is in its fifth year, and the names on Russia’s enlistment paperwork increasingly come from outside Russia.
Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War says it now holds personal data on 45,959 foreign nationals from 151 countries who have signed contracts with Russia’s Defense Ministry since 2022. Each entry includes the recruit’s rank, dog tag number, and contract date.
The disclosure came from Brigadier General Dmytro Usov, the headquarters’ secretary, who spoke on October 19 at the Crimea Global conference in Kyiv. He said the pace of recruiting has grown every year of the full-scale war and that Moscow is on course to meet, and probably exceed, the 18,500 foreign contracts its ministry targeted for 2026.
So far this year, 16,168 foreigners have signed, roughly level with the full-year total for 2025. Another 668 contracts have no year assigned in Ukraine’s dataset.
A count that has nearly doubled in a year
At the previous Crimea Global gathering, Usov reported 28,000 foreigners from 138 countries. “Today, that figure has risen to nearly 46,000 foreigners who have signed contracts with the Russian Defense Ministry, representing 151 countries,” he told the conference.
The yearly curve climbs sharply: 94 contracts in 2022, 4,067 in 2023, 8,877 in 2024, 16,085 in 2025, and 16,168 in the first nine months of 2026. That works out to about 1,800 foreign recruits a month.
Usov said that if the current rate holds, the Defense Ministry’s 2026 plan could be exceeded as early as November. He said the hiring is also meant to ease the political and budget burden of Russia’s own losses.
Indonesia, Peru and a widening African pipeline
Among the ten countries driving the steepest growth, Usov named Indonesia, Peru, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Chad, the Philippines, the Republic of the Congo, Panama, Ecuador, and Zimbabwe. The fastest-growing clusters, he said, are in Africa and Latin America, while recruitment from traditional post-Soviet sources such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Belarus remains large.
Many African recruits are drawn in through front companies posing as travel agencies or staffing firms, promising work as security guards or cooks, and advertising on WhatsApp and Telegram, according to the headquarters’ briefing.
Ukrainian forces have captured citizens of 59 countries since the full-scale invasion began. Uzbeks, Tajiks, Belarusians, and Colombians are among the largest groups.
What captured foreigners told interrogators
In the headquarters’ survey of foreign prisoners, nearly half said they knew they would fight Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Another 28% said they did not know, 14.8% were unsure, and 13.8% said they were deceived. Respondents could select multiple answers, and the headquarters did not release a sample size.
Almost 47% of surveyed POWs said they signed up in exchange for Russian citizenship, and 41% signed at enlistment offices or recruitment points, which Ukraine reads as evidence of a systematic state campaign rather than opportunistic sign-ups.
The headquarters’ April tally, when the total stood lower, estimated that at least 5,149 foreign recruits had died in the war and that a further 25% to 30% of foreign signatories were likely still unidentified.
