Twenty-seven Ugandans who were enlisted to fight for Russia's army in Ukraine have been killed or are presumed dead, a letter from Uganda's embassy in Moscow to its foreign ministry showed on Thursday. The letter, seen by Reuters, gave the names of 11 Ugandans confirmed dead and 16 whose bodies could not be located anywhere, including among prisoners of war. The embassy said it had received the information from Russia's foreign ministry through a note verbale, a diplomatic communication. An official at Uganda's foreign ministry confirmed the authenticity of the letter. Russia's embassy in Kampala did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
How were the 27 Ugandans accounted for?
Through a families' petition, a passport check, and a two-month diplomatic exchange. The letter, dated October 17, was written by Uganda's ambassador to Russia, Moses K. Kizige, to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The inquiry began in August, after telephone conversations with a man who introduced himself as representing families of Ugandans believed to have joined the Russian military and who supplied passport details of some of the missing. The embassy verified those details through Uganda's Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration, then formally approached the Russian authorities on August 19 seeking information about the individuals. Russia responded on October 8, and Kizige forwarded the findings to Kampala, requesting urgent communication with the affected families. On the missing 16, the letter is blunt: "It is important to note that the persons listed in this category are effectively dead, but their bodies could not be located anywhere. They are also not known to be prisoners of war," Kizige wrote. The correspondence does not specify when each person died or where. The same accounting also identified five Ugandans reportedly still serving in the Russian military — Rogers Mwebaze, Evarist Barigye, Honest Mugabi, Eric Kisakye and Tenywa Ronald Samula, according to the embassy's communication as reported by UG Bulletin. "The Ugandans in this category shall be discharged as and when their contracts expire," Kizige said.
How did Ugandans end up in Russia's army?
That is the question the letter does not answer — and the one a UN-backed inquiry addressed this week. Reports of African men being lured to Russia with promises of jobs and ending up on Ukraine's front lines have become frequent, Reuters reported, triggering anger in countries like Kenya, Ghana and South Africa. Ukraine said last year that more than 1,400 citizens from three dozen African countries were fighting alongside Russian forces on its territory, with some recruited through deception. On Monday, the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine reported that it had investigated the recruitment of nationals from 48 countries and found evidence that men from 29 countries — Uganda named among them — were recruited into Russia's armed forces as a result of deception or coercion, AP reported. The men, aged 18 to 60, "came mostly from vulnerable and marginalized communities, with a poor economic background and a low education level," the commission said. The report said the men were recruited through deception and coercion in coordination with agents operating in other countries who presented themselves as legitimate and government-endorsed businesses. The agents arranged visas and sometimes travelled with the men, who soon after arrival were forced to sign documents in Russian with the Defense Ministry that they did not understand. "The recruits were shocked to discover that they would be serving for the Russian armed forces," the commission said. Russian authorities have denied illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in Ukraine, Reuters reported; Russia's UN Mission said Russia does not recognise the mandate of the commission and claimed its findings were based on "falsified data," AP reported. Both positions are published here as stated; the Ugandan letter itself, notably, makes no claim about how its 27 dead and missing were recruited — it records only what became of them.
Why does Uganda's letter matter?
Because it is an official accounting, from the recruiting country's own diplomatic channel, in a story otherwise told through estimates. Ukraine's figure of more than 1,400 African fighters is a belligerent's count, published here as Kyiv stated it. The UN commission's 29-country finding establishes a method — deception or coercion — but names no individual casualties. The Ugandan letter is different in kind: a named ambassador, writing to his own foreign ministry, relaying the Russian foreign ministry's own answer about named citizens, with the ministry in Kampala confirming the letter is genuine. It converts a continental pattern into 27 specific fates: 11 confirmed dead, 16 missing and presumed dead with no bodies to repatriate, and five men still in Russian uniform awaiting the expiry of contracts they may or may not have understood when they signed them. Uganda's parliament raised the recruitment matter on October 15, and Kenya, Ghana and South Africa have reportedly secured the return of some of their citizens through diplomatic engagement with Russian authorities. Whether Kampala now does the same for its five still-serving nationals — and what it tells the 27 families the letter was written for — is the next fact in this story.
This report is drawn from Reuters' October 29, 2026 report, opened and read in full on reuters.com; AP's October 27, 2026 report of the UN commission of inquiry's findings, opened and read in full via an AP carrier; and UG Bulletin's October 28, 2026 account of the embassy letter, opened and read in full. The 11/16/5 figures are the embassy letter's, relaying the Russian foreign ministry's note verbale, and are published as such. Ukraine's continental figure and the UN commission's deception finding are published as their authors stated them, alongside Russia's denials.
