Twenty-seven Ugandan citizens have been killed or gone missing while fighting in Ukraine as members of the Russian military, Reuters reported earlier today, citing a letter from Uganda’s embassy in Moscow to the Foreign Ministry in Kampala. Bloomberg recently reported that Russia had ramped up military recruitment in Africa, turning to poorer countries to look for soldiers to fight in its war against Ukraine.
The letter, reviewed by Reuters, said Uganda’s embassy in Moscow had been able to confirm the deaths of 11 of its citizens, and another 16 are presumed dead: their whereabouts could not be established, their bodies have not been found, and they are not listed among the prisoners of war being held by Ukraine. The embassy said it received the information from Russia’s Foreign Ministry through a formal diplomatic communication known as a verbal note, or note verbale. Reuters said a Ugandan Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the letter.
The Insider has also reported that Russia is sharply expanding recruitment in African countries, increasingly targeting states with lower incomes and weaker democratic institutions. After Kenya and South Africa issued warnings and moved to curb recruitment, Russia stepped up enlistment in Burundi, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, and multiple other countries. In the first nine months of 2026, the Russian military signed contracts with 699 Burundian citizens, compared with 30 in all of 2025. In Zimbabwe, the number recruited over the same periods rose from 65 to 530.
According to data from Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 45,900 citizens of foreign countries and unrecognized territories had signed contracts with the Russian military as of Oct. 1, 2026. They included 5,400 people from 43 African countries, or about 12% of all identified foreign recruits. In the first nine months of 2026, Russia recruited 16,200 foreigners, according to Ukrainian figures, more than the 16,000 recruited during all of 2025.
