Revealed: Most foreign fighters on Russia’s side come from this country after North Korea
The Cuban Foreign Ministry on Saturday dismissed claims by the United States that soldiers from the Caribbean island nation were fighting alongside Russia in Ukraine. According to Reuters, Havana also disclosed for the first time details of court cases launched in Cuba over mercenary activities.
Nine criminal cases since 2023
Between 2023 and 2025, Cuban authorities initiated nine criminal proceedings on charges of mercenary activity, involving forty defendant. Of the eight cases that have been concluded, judgments have already been handed down in five, with 26 people sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to fourteen years. Three proceedings are still awaiting court decisions, and one more is currently under preparation.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry emphasised:
“Cuba does not take part in the armed conflict in Ukraine and does not send military personnel there or to any other country.”
The statement also reaffirmed Havana’s zero-tolerance stance towards mercenarism, human trafficking, and the participation of its citizens in wars abroad.
Washington: Cuba the second-largest “military source”
The US State Department, however, claims that after North Korea, Cuba provides the second-largest number of fighters for Russia in the war in Ukraine. According to a diplomatic cable obtained by Reuters, between 1,000 and 5,000 Cuban nationals are believed to be serving within the Russian armed forces.
The message urged Washington’s allies to vote against Cuba at the UN General Assembly’s October session, where the resolution on lifting the decades-long US economic embargo on the island will once again be on the agenda. The proposal is traditionally supported by an overwhelming majority of member states: last year, 187 countries voted in favour, while the United States and Israel opposed it, and Moldova abstained.
Cuba is pro-Russian but promotes peace
While Cuba officially aligns with Russia in the diplomatic framing of the conflict, the island’s leadership continues to call for peace negotiations. The Cuban Foreign Ministry said Havana does not know exactly how many of its citizens are involved in the war on either side, but the government stressed that it has no official ties to any potential mercenaries.
Reports of Cuban soldiers being present in Ukraine first surfaced in 2023. Later, Cuban authorities admitted that some citizens had indeed fought as mercenaries, but these cases were organised by illegal recruitment networks rather than by the state itself. The purpose of the ongoing criminal proceedings, the ministry said, is precisely to dismantle these human trafficking and mercenary networks.
Diplomatic tension in the background
Diplomatic tensions between Washington and Havana have thus intensified once again, just as the UN General Assembly prepares to vote on the US embargo. Cuba argues that the sanctions hinder its economic development and the improvement of its humanitarian situation, while the United States continues to criticise the island for its lack of human rights and political freedoms.