Putin's International Legion. What countries are the citizens of who are fighting against Ukraine?

However, Putin, as always, lied. Foreigners from different parts of the world have long been fighting on the side of Russia. And more and more often, the reports of the Ukrainian army mention prisoners of war who are citizens of other countries. Back in November 2022, Putin issued a decree allowing foreigners to become equal members of the Russian army. Then the head of the Kremlin officially allowed mercenaries from abroad to fight in the Russian army - both under contract and by conscription.

In April 2025, the news about the first prisoners of war, citizens of the People's Republic of China, caused an information explosion. The Ukrainian armed forces captured two Chinese, and later Ukrainian special services released information about the identification of another 150 Chinese citizens who fought in Ukraine for Russian money. Previously, "Glavkom" reported that the Russians themselves do not deny that Chinese citizens are fighting on their side. Propagandists even brag about it.

However, the captured Chinese and North Koreans are only the tip of the iceberg. Investigators from the publication "Important Stories" published information that mercenaries from at least 48 countries are fighting on the side of Russia in the war against Ukraine. Members of the Russian army captured by Ukraine provide a kind of cross-section of the geography of this international aggression. "Glavkom" analyzed the open data and determined which countries the Ukrainian prisoners of war were from.

 

Foreign prisoners - official data

 

As of May 2, 2025, 81 citizens from 26 countries are in special camps for prisoners of war in Ukraine. They served their military service in the Russian army. Such data was provided by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, in response to the request of the "Supreme Commander".

The prisoners include people from the following countries:

Tajikistan – 12 people

Uzbekistan – 12 people

Nepal – nine people

Sri Lanka – eight people

Belarus – seven people

Kazakhstan – five people

Egypt – four people

Azerbaijan – two people

Yemen – two people

Moldova – two people

Republic of Togo – two people

China – two people

Brazil – one person

Ghana – one person

Greece – 1 person

Ecuador – one person

Estonia – one person

Italy – one person

Cuba – one person

Morocco – one person

Saudi Arabia – one person

Slovakia – one person

Somalia – one person

Sierra Leone – one person

Turkmenistan – one person

Armenia – one person

 

Separately, the response states that representatives of 106 countries of the world serve in the Russian armed forces!

According to the UK Ministry of Defense on Twitter, foreign citizens were promised service in a "special" unit of the Russian army with a monthly salary of $ 2,200, a one-time payment of $ 2,000, receiving a Russian passport, free medical care and training. British intelligence also reports that Russia has recruited more than 1,500 foreign citizens to participate in the war against Ukraine. From April 2023 to the end of May 2024, the largest number of recruits came from South and East Asia (771 people), the countries of the former Soviet Union (523 people) and Africa (72 people).

 

Captured Belarusians

 

Belarus is not officially participating in the war on the side of Russia. Instead, its territory was used for the Russian invasion from day one, and the Belarusian regime supports the actions of the Russian Federation in every way. So it is quite logical that Belarusian citizens are fighting in the ranks of the Russian Federation.

The first Belarusian to be captured by the Ukrainian army was Maksim Zyazyulchik, born in 2000. He served as part of the Russian private military company "Redut". The Security Service of Ukraine stated that the Belarusian was an agent of the Belarusian special services, whose task was to collect information about foreign weapons supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. When he was captured, Zyazyulchik talked about an "ordinary" militant, but the Ukrainian special services "identified" the Belarusian, who was 22 years old at the time of his capture.

Maksym Zyazyulchik was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Ukraine as a mercenary who participated in the armed conflict. Later, the Shevchenkiv District Court in Kyiv released Zyazjulchik from serving his sentence so that he could be included in the prisoner of war exchange lists. In his proposal, the prosecutor referred to the official decision of the Coordination Headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war and the written consent of the prisoner himself for the exchange. Last year, member of the Redoubt, Zjazjulcik was traded.

"I am very pleased that I was not left in enemy territory," said the war criminal after he was handed over to the Russians.

 

Another Belarusian prisoner, Andriy Gerilovich, fought as part of the private mercenary army Wagner, where he commanded enemy artillery. He was captured in November 2022 near Bakhmut. Relatives and acquaintances do not know for sure what could have pushed the man to go to war against Ukraine, but they assume that it happened because of money, as well as the influence of his mother-in-law's relatives living in the occupied part of Donbas.

The SBU reported the details that Gerilovich told. He spoke about torture, denial of financial support and killings in the ranks of Wagner units for disobeying orders. In addition, the Belarusian testified about war crimes committed by Russian troops and named those who participated in them.

In Ukraine, Gerilovich agreed to a plea bargain. On March 8, 2023, the Druzhkiv City Court of the Donetsk region approved this agreement and sentenced him to nine years in prison. It was later announced that Belarus had been transferred to Russia as part of a prisoner of war exchange operation.

 

Another Belarusian prisoner who was exchanged is named Maksim Zapeka. In a video released by the State Border Service of Ukraine, Zapeka said that he was motivated to fight against Ukraine by the desire to earn money. According to him, he was supposed to do housework far from the front lines. The man was allegedly recruited while working in Moscow. The occupiers assured the Belarusians of their safety and promised not to send them to the front lines. However, the promises turned out to be lies, and he was captured by the Ukrainian army. His training was carried out by the "Wagners", but Zapeka himself emphasizes that he served in the Russian army, and not in a private mercenary army.

A few more "Belarusian" details. In December 2024, paratroopers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine captured 11 Russian soldiers, including one Belarusian citizen, without a shot being fired. The unnamed man told the Ukrainians that he was originally from the Mogilev region. He ended up in the Russian army because... he got drunk and surrendered under pressure from the police.

 

“The police took me in and started pressuring me, saying, ‘Sign the war contract.’” I refused the first, second, and third time. And then I got drunk again, so they arrested me again, put pressure on me, and I accepted it drunk and signed,” he explains.

According to the Belarusian, after he sobered up, it was too late:

“I was already in Voronezh. They took me there drunk.”

 

Belarusian journalists assume that the video shows Artur Yefremov, who went to work in Russia many years ago. The man has more than a dozen administrative fines for drunkenness and fights. For example, in 2010, the man and his partner stole a toilet and its cistern. According to Radio Liberty, Yefremov is still in Ukrainian captivity.

As reported by journalists of the "Important Stories" project, between April 2023 and May 2024, 71 Belarusian citizens visited the contract service office, which was located on Yablochkova Street in Moscow.

On April 28, the project for receiving applications from Russian military personnel in Ukraine "I want to live" published a list of mercenaries from Belarus. According to this information, as of 2025, there are at least 742 mercenaries with Belarusian passports in the ranks of the Russian army.

 

Captured North Korean Nationals

 

On December 16, 2024, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine and the US Department of Defense announced the first significant losses of North Korean soldiers who were sent to the Russian army for the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released a video on the same day. One of the frames shows Russian soldiers mutilating the corpses of North Korean soldiers. This was probably done to make it difficult to identify individuals.

Later, in January of this year, information was released about the first official North Korean citizens captured - two soldiers were captured in Kursk. The prisoners said that the North Korean forces suffered heavy losses from the Ukrainian army.

In February 2025, the prisoners stated in an interview with Chosun that they were convinced that they were fighting South Korean soldiers. The North Korean captives said that before they were sent to Kursk, they were in their homeland, 26-year-old Ri served in the army for 10 years, and 21-year-old Baek - for four. According to them, North Korean special services controlled the deployed troops and spread disinformation that South Korean military forces were attacking them from the Ukrainian side.

Before the official publication of information about the DPRK prisoners by the President of Ukraine, the Yonhap news agency in December 2024, citing the South Korean National Intelligence Service, reported on a North Korean soldier in captivity. Allegedly, on December 26, Ukrainians managed to capture a North Korean citizen for the first time in Kursk, who died the next day from his wounds.

 

Also, a photo of a prisoner, allegedly from North Korea, has been circulating on the Internet these days. The date of the photo is unknown, but it is claimed that the photo shows the same North Korean citizen reported by Yonhap. The same information was also picked up by the local media.

On April 28, North Korea confirmed that it had sent its army to war against Ukraine. According to a report by the North Korean state news agency (KCNA), the transfer of North Korean military personnel to Russia took place "on the personal order of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un." The agency claims that this step was taken in accordance with the terms of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement between the DPRK and Russia. Russia, too, does not deny this information.

However, reports that North Korean citizens participated in the Russian-Ukrainian war began to spread long before official confirmation. Preparations to send North Koreans to fight against the Ukrainians were evidenced by videos that were distributed on the Internet as early as October last year. In the Russian Far East, North Korean soldiers were given Russian equipment. South Korean intelligence then provided information on the number of North Koreans already at Russian training grounds at that time: 1,500 soldiers. The information about the preparations of North Korean citizens for war was confirmed by the Russians themselves, filming soldiers who were "exotic" to them. OSINT analysts identified the location where the filming took place as the Sergievskoye training ground.

 

African prisoners

 

During the fighting, the Ukrainian military captured citizens of African countries who participated in the invasion on the side of Russia.

In April of this year, information was published about the capture of an African who was found with a weapon in his hands in the Toretsky district of the Donetsk region. The mercenary is originally from Senegal. The soldiers said that during the search, Russian bank cards were found on the prisoner. According to the Senegalese citizen, he studied in Russia for two years and intended to emigrate to Europe, more precisely to Germany. The Russians promised him money for participating in the fighting, which would help him realize his plan.

The Senegalese citizen, speaking in broken Russian, said that he had noticed a drone and that he intended to meet with a Ukrainian soldier to ask for help.

“If you are Ukrainian, I am sorry. Don’t shoot. I want to go abroad, I want to go to Europe,” the mercenary recounts his words.

Earlier in February, the Combined Rifle Brigade of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the capture of a soldier fighting on the side of Russia, originally from West Africa, although the military did not say exactly where. The man said he had allegedly come to study in Saratov, Russia, and from there he was mobilized into the ranks of the Russian army. He was part of an enemy sabotage and reconnaissance group, whose task was to storm the positions of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in the Donetsk region.

 

There is also a known case in which a Somali citizen, a marksman, a soldier named Mohamed Adila, voluntarily surrendered to the Ukrainians near Mariyinka in January 2024. According to him, he served in the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division, although before that he had no connection with military affairs. At least three more foreigners, Indian citizens, served with him. They do not speak Russian, but this did not prevent them from performing combat missions together with the Russian occupiers.

Another mercenary from West Africa (Sierra Leone) was captured in February 2024: the 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade captured him near Mariyinka. No other details about this man were provided. Google Maps shows: Sierra Leone and Mariyinka are 10,000 km apart. So, a citizen of a distant African country could not have come here by chance.

Earlier, “Glavkom” wrote that Russia was opening its borders to mercenaries from Africa to replenish its staff due to a shortage of human resources. Bloomberg also reported that Russia is forcing African students into war: Russia is threatening to withhold visas from young students and workers unless they side with Russia and join the Russian military. In addition, there have been documented cases of Africans being detained and forced to choose between deportation and military service. These units, mostly made up of inexperienced individuals, suffer disproportionately high casualties.

 

Captured Uzbeks

 

In 2022, it became known that Uzbeks who fought for Russia were captured by Ukrainian forces. One of them, a 22-year-old student from Samarkand who studied in Moscow, said that he had joined the Redut mercenary unit to earn money. Another reported that he had worked at a construction site in Moscow without documents, after which he was sent to Ukraine.

A few days after the publication of this video, the Embassy of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Kiev requested information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine about the detained fellow citizens. No detailed information about the two soldiers has emerged.

"Glavkom" sent a request for information to the Uzbek Embassy in Ukraine to learn more about the situation with the captured citizens of their country who fought on the side of Russia. However, diplomats ignored the opportunity to shed light on this event.