Nepalese mercenaries are deserting the Russian army en masse due to ill-treatment and heavy losses.

The press service of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine reported on this.

It is reported that the escape of mercenaries from Nepal assigned to military unit No. 29328 was caused by huge losses in ‘meat assaults’ and the brutal treatment of field commanders, including extrajudicial executions for refusing to comply with orders. In addition, mercenaries are not paid the money they were promised.

The Russians are actively searching for fugitives in the occupied Ukrainian settlements, in particular in the Luhansk region, where the personnel of the military unit No. 29328 were located, but this process usually does not yield results.

The command of the military unit reports on desertions in its accounts and statements, explaining that they are likely to leave for their home country because of the earthquake.

“However, getting from the occupied Luhansk region back to Nepal alone is not an easy task. In addition, Nepalese citizens may face prosecution in their country for participating in hostilities against Ukraine as part of the Russian army. As a result, the desire to earn ‘easy’ money has turned into a trap for Nepalese mercenaries, with no safe way out,” the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said in a statement.

Mercenaries from Nepal in the Russian army

Militarnyi previously reported that the Nepalese government asked Russia to send back hundreds of Nepalese citizens who were 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 were killed.

Militarnyi also reported that Police in Nepal 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 Avdiyivka sector.

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.