Cubans fighting in Ukraine

The names of more than 1,000 Cuban citizens have been confirmed. “We do not consider the Cuban mercenaries as a separate military force capable of influencing the situation on the battlefield. Overall, their number may be around 10, 12, or 15 thousand. It’s a small group of people who were either deceived or coerced into signing a contract,” said HUR representative Andriy Chernyak.

Russia regards Cuba as part of its geopolitical sphere of influence. “They are exploiting this on the political stage, for domestic audiences. They are trying to show that Russia is not the aggressor and that other countries—let’s say, from the so-called civilized world—also support Russia’s ideas and plans,” Chernyak explained.

So far, HUR has identified more than 18,000 foreign mercenaries fighting on Russia’s side. The total number of mercenaries is likely much higher. Those identified come from 48 different countries, most of them from South and East Asia as well as Africa. Several dozen citizens of European countries have also been identified, including individuals from Latvia, Bulgaria, Italy, France, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among European nations, Serbia ranks first in terms of the number of foreign mercenaries serving in the Russian army.