Russian private military companies are recruiting Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to be sent to Africa.

The National Resistance Center of Ukraine reported on this.

It is reported that the so-called Wagner Private military company has launched a large-scale recruitment campaign for men aged 22 to 50.

They are promised salaries of 240 thousand rubles if they sign a contract for six months.

In addition to participating in combat operations, mercenaries will have to work at mining facilities.

Conscription of Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine

On September 29, it was reported that Russians had started the autumn draft, which had taken place, in particular, in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

From the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory, the recruits moved to their permanent deployment points in Russia.

Russian mercenaries

Militarnyi reported on March 15 that Russia was increasingly recruiting mercenaries from countries facing economic hardships to participate in the war against Ukraine.

A large flow of mercenaries comes from Cuba because Russian agitators feel free there, so the number of people willing to join is growing.

In addition, there are many mercenaries from India, Africa, Nepal, and partly Serbia fighting on the battlefields of the Russian-Ukrainian war. There are also mercenaries from Latin America, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq.

It was also reported that the Nepalese government had asked Russia to send back hundreds of Nepalese citizens who had been illegally recruited by Russia to participate in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The Nepalese government has also asked Russia to repatriate the bodies of those who died. Nepal’s Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud said that the Russian army had recruited more than 200 Nepalese citizens to fight in Ukraine, and at least 14 of them had been killed.

Militarnyi also reported that Police in Nepal had detained ten people on suspicion of illegally recruiting the country’s residents into the Russian military.

The detainees illegally charged each person up to $9,000 and sent them to Russia on “tourist visas,” mainly through the UAE.

They were then recruited into the Russian Army. In October 2023, Ukrainian troops captured a Russian mercenary from Nepal in the Avdiivka direction.

In the same month, the New York Times reported on dozens of Nepalese who signed contracts with the Russian army and went to war in Ukraine.

Many of them did so because of low wages and unemployment in the country. The Nepalese government does not allow its citizens to serve in foreign armies, except for the Armed Forces of India and the United Kingdom.

In addition to representatives of African and Asian nations, Europeans are also fighting on the side of the Russians. For example, in January 2024, it was reported that Dejan Beric, a Serbian mercenary who served in the Russian invasion troops, had complained about chauvinism and inhuman treatment by the Russian military.