Russia is increasing the recruitment of citizens of African countries to participate in the war against Ukraine, trying to compensate for losses at the front and a shortage of personnel. Moscow has intensified recruitment in poor states of the continent, and also began to attract recruits from countries where it had practically not conducted such campaigns before.
On October 26, Bloomberg reported this, citing a presentation obtained from sources familiar with the work of Ukrainian intelligence.
According to the document, Russian recruiters focused on states with low incomes of the population, weak democratic institutions, limited press freedom and insufficiently independent judicial systems.
The most noticeable growth in recruitment was recorded in Burundi and Zimbabwe. From January to September 2026, contracts with the Russian army, according to the data cited, were signed by 699 citizens of Burundi, compared to 30 for the entire year of 2025. In Zimbabwe, the number of recruits in similar periods increased from 65 to 530 people.
Thus, Russia attracted 1,229 people from these two states alone over nine months. A significant increase in recruitment was also noted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Cameroon.
In addition, for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia began recruiting military personnel in Madagascar. After the military coup in 2025, the new authorities of the island nation strengthened ties with Moscow, which supplied military equipment and food there.
The expansion of the geography of recruitment occurred after Kenya and the Republic of South Africa took measures to prevent the sending of their citizens to the war against Ukraine. Authorities of several African countries also warned of cases of fraudulent recruitment of people under the guise of highly paid civilian work.
According to Bloomberg, in at least nine countries Russia practically ceased recruiting directly into the armed forces. Instead, citizens of these states are being attracted to work at Russian defense industry enterprises.
Recruiters use promises of high salaries, large one-time payments and Russian citizenship. In some cases, Africans are offered vacancies as drivers, security guards or service sector workers, however after arriving in Russia they are sent to military training and the front.
According to data from the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, as of October 1, 2026, at least 45,959 foreigners from 151 countries and territories signed contracts with the Russian armed forces. Among them, 5,451 people from 43 African states.
In the first nine months of 2026, Russia recruited 16,168 foreigners, which already exceeds the figure for the entire previous year. According to the Ukrainian side's assessment, the expansion of recruitment abroad is connected with the need to replenish the losses of Russian troops without announcing a new large-scale mobilization.
The Kremlin publicly denies a shortage of personnel and the need for a new wave of mobilization. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment regarding the expansion of recruitment in Africa.
