Ukraine is willing to continue identifying Cuban mercenaries and reporting to families on the island “what has happened to these men.”
MIAMI, United States. – Ukrainian deputy Maryan Zablotskiy reported this Tuesday, during a press conference held in Miamithat the authorities of his country have identified the bodies of 39 Cuban mercenaries who died while fighting on the side of Russia. In addition, he assured that Ukraine can continue identifying and reporting to the families on the Island “what has happened to these men who have died.”
In addition to the 39 deceased and identified mercenaries from the island, the Ukrainian legislator assured that “there are hundreds of dead Cubans who fought for Russia” whose identity is still unknown.
At another point in his speech at the press conference organized by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance (ARC) and the Cuban Democratic Directorate, he reported that Ukraine currently has “four Cuban prisoners,” who would be “being treated humanely and, more than humanely, well.”
Zablotsky presented two ways to resolve the situation of the detainees: “There are two options: that the Russian Government gives us Ukrainian prisoners and we give them the Cubans (…). As an alternative, we are going to ask the Cuban regime to consider the following humanitarian gesture: we can consider releasing the Cuban mercenaries if there is a simultaneous gesture of releasing Cuban political prisoners.”
He also stressed that, in prisoner exchanges since the beginning of the invasion, “Russia has not asked for any foreign fighters,” but only Russian fighters.
The legislator, president of the Pro-Free Cuba Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament, framed the announcement in his country’s evaluation of the deployment of foreigners in Russian ranks: “You have seen, as my Foreign Ministry has announced, that the largest international contingent fighting for Russia is the Cuban one.”
During the event, activist Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat read the list of the 39 deceased Cuban mercenaries identified by kyiv. “This is the list of Cubans unfortunately killed in a war that has nothing to do with Cuba,” said the opposition leader.
CubaNet obtained the aforementioned list (with transliterated spellings). The document, courtesy of the ARC, also includes a list of 1,028 Cuban mercenaries recruited by Russia (including the 39 deceased). It can be consulted here:
Zablotskiy insisted that the Ukrainian authorities could “continue identifying bodies” and formally communicate the information to relatives on the island. He also pointed out that some Cubans “do not want to return to Cuba” and that “the Russians have not let go” of others who have already completed a year of contract with the Armed Forces of that country.
At the same conference, the president of the Hemispheric Front for Freedom supported that, if the return is carried out, it would be “so that Cuban families can give it a holy burial and find solace.” For his part, René Bolio, president of the Mexican Human Rights Commission, read a priority list of 17 political prisoners whose release they would advocate as a humanitarian counterpart, while demanding “the absolute, unconditional and immediate freedom of all political prisoners in Cuba.”
On the other hand, the Ukrainian deputy maintained that his country’s positioning in international forums—such as its recent vote against the annual resolution presented by Havana at the United Nations—responds, among other reasons, to “the large presence of Cuban troops” on the Russian front.
Editor’s note: This note was updated to correct the number of Cuban mercenaries killed on the Russian front and identified by Ukraine. Although the figure of 41 is mentioned in the video, only 39 names appear in the list published above.
