Barney Davis
Published January 13, 2026 7:06pm
Updated January 13, 2026 7:06pm
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Kenyan national Evans Kibet, captured while fighting for Russian forces on the Ukrainian front(Picture: AFP or licensors)
The Russian army is using ‘disposable’ African soldiers to blow themselves up on Ukrainian defensive positions, it has been claimed.
Footage appears to show African mercenaries being held at gunpoint and goaded into wearing land mines and ordered into certain death missions to save Russian lives.
Julian Roepcke, a Bild journalist, posted a video of a man named Francis with an explosive strapped to his chest being prodded with an assault rifle.
He puts his hands in the air as he is forced through an underground position.
Roepcke said: ‘Russia’s army is now using African mercenaries as “открывашка,” which in German roughly means “can opener.”
‘Their task is to run into the enemy position with a TM-62 mine strapped to their body and blow themselves up there to open the bunker.
‘Subsequent units can then more easily fight the surviving Ukrainians there.
‘However, “Francis” does not seem to be doing his new job entirely voluntarily …’
Russian fighters are strapping huge mines to African mercenaries fighting for Putin.(Picture: X)
Russlands Armee nutzt ab sofort afrikanische Söldner als „открывашка“, zu Deutsch etwa „Dosenöffner“.Ihre Aufgabe ist es, mit einer um den Körper geschnallten TM-62-Mine in die gegnerische Stellung zu rennen und sich dort in die Luft zu sprengen, um den Bunker zu „öffnen“.… pic.twitter.com/kxUwFwgCjq
— Julian Röpcke🇺🇦 (@JulianRoepcke) January 9, 2026
Another video shows an African unit singing and dancing in the snow to keep morale up.
But a soldier speaking in Russian so the African contingent can’t understand, says: ‘Look how many disposables we have here.’
He laughs before saying: ‘They sing joyfully but they will be singing differently when they get to the frontline.’.
It came after it emerged Russia recruited 150 foreign nationals from 25 countries to fight in the war against Ukraine in December alone.
Foreign fighters captured while serving for Russian forces on the Ukrainian front (Picture: AFP or licensors)
A further 200 foreigners are reportedly preparing to join the Russian army friom countries in the post-Soviet space and the Global South, including Belarus, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Cuba, Kenya, and China.
The primary motivations for foreign recruits are financial compensation, simplified access to citizenship, and amnesty for criminals.
Oleh Ivashchenko, Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, said: ‘Moscow deliberately exploits economic instability in poorer countries and limited legal migration pathways, turning these factors into instruments of control and pressure.
‘The presence of citizens from China, Cuba, or African countries is actively used in propaganda narratives as supposed evidence of support from the non-Western world.’
South African father-of-three Dubandlela said his 20-year-old son signed up in July to receive elite training as a VIP bodyguard in Russia.
Five months later, Dubandlela is in despair.
His son had fallen for an alleged recruitment scam in which he and at least 16 other South African men say they were conscripted by an unspecified mercenary group and sent to join Russian forces in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry warned about illegal Russian programs to recruit young people in Africa to take part in the war.
Head of the ministry Heorhii Tykhyi, said: ‘We urge all African media and governments to take bold action to stop Russian programs that are luring youth throughout the continent into its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.’
Russian soldiers have been filmed mocking African recruits (Picture: Reuters)
He added Russia is dramatically increasing scholarships for African students for the upcoming academic year.
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‘Surely no one should be so naive as to believe that this is about education,’ Tykhyi said.
In November, the daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma resigned as an MP following allegations she misled 17 men to fight for Russia.
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, MP for main opposition party uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) last year, stressed that she thought the men were going to Russia for ‘lawful’ training.
MK says it was her decision to resign so she can concentrate on getting those trapped in Donbas back home.
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