Labeled “disposable soldiers,” Ugandans appear unaware of what awaits them on the Ukrainian front.Image: Capture d’écran X / Imago, montage watson
Ugandans, partly deceived by false job offers and partly acting voluntarily, join the Russian army and are sent to Ukraine. Several of them died there, but the close ties between Kampala and Moscow dampen the outrage – in contrast to Kenya.
Feb 15, 2026, 8:23 p.mFeb 15, 2026, 8:23 p.m
Joris FIORITI, Kampala, Ouganda / AFP
About a dozen soldiers, wrapped up warm, sing a Ugandan song while a man speaks mockingly in Russian of them as “usable” soldiers. After Kenya, neighboring Uganda is also beginning to recognize the fate of its nationals recruited by the Russian army and often killed in Ukraine.
The phenomenon has preoccupied the Kenyan press and the South African government for months and has been the subject of several journalistic investigations, including one on Monday by the AFP. In Uganda, however, it does not trigger the same unrest as the country has been under the strict leadership of President Yoweri Museveni for 40 years.
Mercenaryism as a common career path
The president’s son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who later became army chief, stated in March 2023:
“Feel free to call me a ‘Putinist’ if you want. We, Uganda, should send soldiers to defend Moscow if it were ever threatened by the imperialists.”
Uganda, known for the quality of its soldiers, has long seen many of them, once out of uniform, go to work for private military companies (PMC) in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
Muhoozi Kainerugaba.Image: PETER BUSOMOKE / AFP
The Special Association of Returnees (ASR), which has 20,000 members, mostly former Ugandan soldiers but also employees of PMCs, reports that they were targeted by several “agents”, one of whom offered them employment contracts in Israel in order to then send them to Russia. A senior executive from this organization explains:
“We told our members that (…) they would die (in Russia) with a bullet in the head and their bodies would be buried in the snow or left to be eaten by vultures.”
A recurring phenomenon
The ASR estimates that “more than 10” of its members have joined the Russian army. Of these, three are said to have died.
The number is most likely an underestimate. Last August, the Ugandan security forces announced that they had intercepted nine men at Entebbe airport who wanted to travel to Moscow to work as “security guards”.
They were part of a group of “more than 100 men,” “all of whom had a military past,” and who were to be sent to Russia in several waves, they explained on X.
While security forces initially reported that those departing were fighting for Ukraine – which seemed strange since they were flying to Moscow – a security source told AFP that their final destination was actually Russia. Since this operation, little appears to have been done to curb the phenomenon. A Russian citizen arrested in this connection has been released and justice is not moving forward, the source added.
Salvageable soldiers
To avoid being intercepted, many Ugandan applicants for the Russian army now simply take planes from neighboring Kenya, another security source said.
A video (the location of which has been verified) posted in January by a pro-Ukrainian X-account and viewed over eight million times shows about a dozen Ugandans chanting a military song in a snow-covered forest.
In Uganda, the comment in Russian, apparently from the person behind the camera, is causing concern. The author makes ironic fun of it:
“Look how many usable (soldiers) are here. And they also sing. They seem happy. Oh well. On the front they will sing differently.”
A shocking testimony
On the Ugandan broadcaster NTV, the widow of Edson Kamwesigye, who she said had previously worked in Iraq – without giving the exact context – asked the Ugandan authorities for help. She wanted to repatriate the body of her husband, who died at the front in Ukraine in January.
Photos of the 46-year-old man’s damaged, lifeless face and his papers surfaced on social media.
Richard Akantoran, a poor worker from the Ugandan capital Kampala, says he was promised a job in a supermarket in Russia. Once there, he was forced to join the Russian army. Namely, “with the gun pointed at his head,” as he reenacts with his fist at his neck in a video released by the Ukrainian army that captured him. The 30-year-old father of two daughters warns:
“Don’t fall into the trap. Imagine being in battle and dying in vain.”
The scandal doesn’t happen
The Ugandan government, which praised the “unlimited opportunities” in Russia in February 2024, has so far limited itself to warning those leaving to be careful. A very cautious choice of words compared to Kenya, which this week described employing its young people as “cannon fodder” as “unacceptable”.
Uganda, which is regularly due to Criticized human rights violations has always abstained from votes in the UN Security Council condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a political analyst, says:
“The fact that the Ugandan government does not strongly condemn (the recruitment of its citizens) is telling.”
Kampala and Moscow, which he said “have built a relationship around security and defense,” now perfectly illustrate “the saying: birds of a feather flock together.”