Charles Mutoka lives in Kenya. The 72-year-old mourns the loss of his son, Oscar Kagola Mutoka. In the summer of 2025, a former Kenyan soldier traveled to Russia to work there. His father says he tried in vain to talk him out of it. Oscar didn't tell his family exactly where he was going. A week later, he sent only a photo of himself in military uniform. He never came into contact with them again. Some time later, the family found out about his death, he writes DW.
Oscar Mutoka's family has not even received his body – despite all appeals to the Kenyan authorities. However, in May 2026, the family held a symbolic memorial service and made a symbolic grave for Oscar so that they would at least have a place where they could pray. "The worst thing is that we don't know if and where he was really buried. Or his body was simply dumped in a forest in Russia," says Charles Mutoka.
Oscar Mutoka is one of an estimated 27.000 foreigners Russia recruited to fight in Ukraine. That figure comes from Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR. A study by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the organization Truth Hounds and the Kazakh International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law (KIBHR) shows that Russia has established a global network aimed at recruiting foreigners.
"This recruitment targets people in economically, socially and legally insecure situations. The methods used range from tempting offers and deception to coercion," Ilya Nusov, one of the study's authors, explains to DW.
"Please get me out of here quickly"
For many people from the world's poorest regions, the salary promised by the Russian military is a major incentive. They see it as a chance to escape poverty and help their families. That is exactly why Cuban citizen Joan Viondi Mendoza decided to work in Russia. He was promised a monthly salary of US$2.000. For Cuba, where the average wage is only $20, that's a huge sum.
DW learned about Yoan Mendoza's story from his brother, Michael Durr. Duro lives in the USA, where he is being treated for cancer. Joan wanted to emigrate to join her brother, but financial and bureaucratic obstacles made it impossible. Soon after, he came across a job offer in Russia. "Joan called me and said he found a way out. He told me about a 'project' in Russia," says Michael Duro. It is in vain, brother, to respond to that idea.
In September 2023, the news agency Reuters filmed young Cubans planning to go to Russia. Among them was Joan Mendoza. "Everyone said: 'I'm doing this so I don't starve in Cuba.' They know exactly where they're going, and so do I," the 23-year-old told reporters at the time. He showed them his correspondence with the recruiter, who wrote: "This is a contract with the Russian army. You will receive our citizenship."
Michael Duro recounts that Joan Mendoza was sent to the front in Ukraine, from where he tried to escape. "He was begging, 'I made a mistake. Forgive me. Please get me out of here quickly,'" Michael says of his brother. But contact with Joan was lost. Later, his name appeared on lists of killed foreign nationals published by Ukraine.
"They used us as human shields"
Joan Mendoza and Oscar Mutoka were probably aware that they were going to Russia to fight in the war in Ukraine. However, many other foreigners have been duped. They were promised jobs in sectors such as construction, security, logistics or agriculture.
That’s what happened to Arman Mondol from Bangladesh. The young man hoped to lift his family out of poverty by working abroad. His father, a farmer, sold his land and took out a loan to pay a recruiter. Mondol was told he would work in a warehouse packing goods. He entered Russia via Saudi Arabia on a tourist visa. There, he was reportedly forced to sign a contract in Russian – a language he could not read.
Mondol says that he and other foreigners were treated very badly in the Russian army. "Whenever we had a mission, they always sent us forward and they stayed behind. They used us as human shields and pushed us into combat first," he says.
During one of those missions, the vehicle Arman was in ran into a mine. Only two passengers survived - Arman was one of them. He was taken to a military hospital, from which he managed to escape. The Bangladesh Embassy in Moscow eventually helped the young man return home. And yet, the war still haunts him today.
"I still have those images before my eyes - people dying, their eyes, their disfigured faces. How the mines blew them up. How drone after drone came in. People whose limbs were torn off. It was horrible," Mondol remembers. He still has shrapnel in one leg and has a severe limp when he walks. Now it is even more difficult for him to find a job in his native village in Bangladesh.
Photo: AP Photo/Brian IngangaRelatives of Kenyans who died fighting on the side of Russia in Ukraine
Mercenaries or victims of human trafficking?
Foreigners fighting for Russia in Ukraine are often labeled as mercenaries. However, Ilya Nusov explains that, strictly speaking, under international law they do not qualify as such - as they often receive Russian citizenship before joining the military.
Some others initially did not intend to participate in combat operations. Such cases of recruitment can be classified as human trafficking if it involves deception, coercion and transportation for the purpose of exploitation. It is a violation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, including the so-called The Palermo Protocol, which prohibits human trafficking and has been ratified by most countries, including Russia.
Russian authorities insist that all foreign soldiers participating in the war in Ukraine are volunteers. In March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a press conference with his Kenyan counterpart, insisted that Russia was not recruiting anyone. "Volunteers are participating in this special military operation in full accordance with Russian law," Lavrov told reporters. DW has asked the Russian Foreign Ministry for clarification, but has not yet received a response.
Increasing number of foreign recruits
Meanwhile, the recruitment of foreign nationals is attracting increasing attention. The families of the men who went there are protesting in many countries around the world, from Nepal to Peru. Politicians, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are raising the issue during meetings with Vladimir Putin. According to media reports, in February 2026, Russia restricted the recruitment of citizens from a number of "friendly" countries. The list of those countries has not been published.
"In some cases, it helped to at least temporarily reduce or even stop the flow of fighters from certain countries," says Ilya Nusov. "We assume, however, that Russia has ways to bypass that reduction in recruitment in one location and instead focus more on another country."
According to estimates by the Ukrainian Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Russia could recruit up to 18.500 people from abroad for the war in 2026. "Instead of declining," says Nussov, "the number of recruited foreigners continues to grow."
Benjamin Alvarez Gruber, Nahid Anjuman and Felix Maringa contributed to this report.
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