Two Ugandans recently were killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine, adding to the mounting toll of African casualties in that conflict.
The two men, Michael Atuhaire and Ashiraf Damulira, are among nearly 1,500 Africans fighting for Russia, often after being lured to the country with promises of lucrative work or higher education. Many of those recruits have come from Kenya and South Africa. Others have come from Cameroon, Ghana and elsewhere on the continent.
Atuhaire and Damulira were identified in an investigation into Russia’s recruiting practices by the Swiss NGO INPACT. The group worked with the Ukrainian project I Want to Live to compile “Business of Despair,” a report detailing the ways Russia brings Africans to the Ukrainian front to supplement its own dwindling ranks.
“The recruitment of African nationals is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather the core of a deliberate and organized strategy,” the authors of the INPACT report wrote.
The report includes a list of more than 300 Africans from 27 countries killed in Ukraine. The dead come from across the continent, from Algeria to Zimbabwe.
Missing from the INPACT list is a third Ugandan, Edson Kamwesigye, who died on the battlefield in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region earlier this year.
Uganda’s Monitor newspaper said Kamwesigye’s parents identified him through social media posts. Before being lured to Russia, Kamwesigye, a father of three, was a security guard in Kampala, his parents told Plus News.
Based on interviews with family members, the Monitor newspaper reported that at least 79 Ugandans have been tricked into fighting for Russia since 2024.
Elizabeth Tabamubi’s husband, Pius, is among those lured to Russia with false promises before being shipped to the battlefield with little training. He traveled to Russia in December 2025 with her brother. Both believed they would get hired as security guards.
Tabamubi told NTV that her husband called her from Russia to say his training was completed. After that, the situation changed.
“Instead, they were taken to the military,” Tabamubi said. “He said they don’t even know if they will survive.”
Africans sent to the Russian front lines often must sign documents written in Russian, a language they don’t understand. Jennifer Namuli told NTV her husband was forced to sign at gunpoint.
In a video created by Ukraine’s 63rd Mechanized Brigade, a captured Ugandan man identified as Richard echoed Namuli’s claim as he described how he came to Russia seeking work and ended up on the battlefield.
“He said, ‘You have to sign,’” Richard said in the video, pantomiming a pistol placed against the side of his neck. Some Africans in his group considered suicide to escape the battlefield, he said.
On the battlefield, Africans are part of Russian attack waves or are forced to become suicide bombers against Ukrainian positions. Russian soldiers reportedly refer to those bombers as “can openers.”
Innocent Kano, a relative of one Ugandan in Russia told NTV that that the men lured to Russia never were paid what they were promised.
Ugandan families, including the relatives of the men killed in Ukraine, have appealed to the government to bring their husbands and family members home. So far, however, Ugandan authorities say they are unable to do so. They also have been unable to bring back the remains of those killed in Ukraine.
Family members say Russian recruiters in Uganda are targeting men who have worked as security guards in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. One recruiter, identified only as Dimitri, targeted unemployed men via WhatsApp chat groups.
“They were desperate, so this guy took advantage,” Kano said. “If they knew (what was going to happen), they wouldn’t have left.”