Kyiv has disclosed that it has identified over 18,000 foreign nationals affiliated with the Russian Armed Forces amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which has persisted for nearly four years. Brig. Gen. Dmytro Usov, secretary of Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, shared this information at the Crimea Global conference, indicating that the tally encompasses both those who have participated in combat and those currently engaged in military operations for Moscow.
These foreign recruits hail from 128 different countries, as well as unrecognized territories, with an alarming approximate count of 3,388 reported fatalities during the conflict. Usov emphasized that these fighters are integral to a broader Russian strategy initiated in 2023, which aims to establish a global recruitment network to offset significant losses on the battlefield.
According to Usov, the primary impetus driving many of these mercenaries to enlist is financial gain, with many being lured or coerced into service. Initially, recruits were contracted for hundreds of dollars per month, a figure that has now surged into the thousands.
Despite these recruitment efforts, Usov revealed that joint actions by Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters, Defense Intelligence, Foreign Ministry, and lawmakers have effectively slowed Russia’s foreign military enlistment. He pointed to Nepal as a case in point, where almost 1,000 citizens had signed contracts with the Russian military from 2023 to 2024, but this number plummeted to just one person by October 2025.
In terms of prisoner exchange dynamics, Usov noted that Russia has shown little inclination to engage in exchanges for foreign prisoners of war. Despite Ukraine establishing a formal prisoner-exchange system early in the invasion, he mentioned that Moscow has made no requests for a single foreign citizen’s exchange, with the sole exception being citizens from North Korea.
Usov assured that the Coordination Headquarters is committed to fulfilling the directives of President Volodymyr Zelensky, which centers on the swift return of all Ukrainian military personnel and civilians detained in Russian prisons and torture facilities. As it stands, Ukraine currently holds prisoners from 37 countries who have fought on the Russian side in this ongoing conflict.
In a bid to provide an avenue for these foreign fighters, Ukraine has initiated the “I Want to Live” program, which offers the option of voluntary surrender. Usov described this initiative as “virtually the only chance to save their lives” for those deemed expendable in the conflict.
