Havana/Ukraine has spread a new list of 54 Cuban mercenaries killed in battle who were part of the ranks of the Russian Army. The names were revealed last Friday by the Center I want to livean office created by the Ukrainian government to receive surrenders from Russian and foreign soldiers.
Through a postclarified that “it is not an exhaustive list of losses of Cuban mercenaries, but only of those whose deaths we know reliably.” The document includes names, ranks, units and dates of death, mainly in Donbas and Zaporizhzhia.
The dates reveal peaks of deaths on specific days, which suggests the participation of Cuban contingents in intense operations. On June 22, 2024, for example, six Cubans died in combat on the same day. Another group of five died last June 17. It also shows that 39 deaths were recorded last year, and 15 in 2024
Regarding the signed contracts, the majority were signed in 2024, with 44, while in 2023 there were six and only four in 2025.
The average age of these 54 mercenaries was 41.7 years. Of them, 32 were in two age ranges, between 26 and 35 years old, and from 46 to 55
According to records, the average age of these 54 mercenaries was 41.7 years. Of them, 32 were in two age ranges, between 26 and 35 years old, and from 46 to 55. There were also three combatants who were under 25 years old and eight were over 56.
The Center indicated that “they died with weapons in their hands 10,000 kilometers from home” and launched a harsh criticism of the Cuban Government and its silence in the face of these deaths: “Their names are known both in Moscow and Havana. However, you will find no honors, no mourning or public mention of these people. No patriotic speeches are made about them, they are not erected monuments, they are not written about in the newspapers.”
Likewise, he condemned the difference in the treatment given to the 32 Cubans who were part of the security guard. Nicolas Maduro during his capture by the United States on January 3. “The Cuban authorities announced a holiday and national mourning“, he added, after the Government dedicated two days to paying tribute to those militiamen, who were repatriated from Venezuela, with a media display that included the television broadcast of their arrival, as well as the funeral.
According to Ukrainian intelligence reports, they are at least 20,000 Cubans recruited as mercenaries on the Russian side since the war began in February 2022, more than 1,000 with documented names and contracts, which is why, according to kyiv, Havana is the second supplier of mercenaries to Moscow, after North Korea.
There are at least 20,000 Cubans recruited as mercenaries on the Russian side since the war began in February 2022.
In October last year, figures provided by Ukrainian intelligence (GUR) to the publication Kyiv Independent they talked about 96 Cuban mercenaries who had died in hostilities or who were missing.
According to information from Ukrainian military intelligence, the majority arrive in Russia attracted by construction jobs published on social networks, in which they are offered juicy salaries of more than 2,000 dollars. The process is carried out through private intermediaries, many of them Cubans who live in that country.
This covert complicity of the Cuban Government led Ukraine to vote against the United Nations resolution that called for the lifting of the US embargo against the Island, last October.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrí Sibiga, explained the meaning of his vote and criticized the “inaction” of the Cuban authorities in the face of the “massive” recruitment of mercenaries by Russia. In X, said that “This gesture is not sudden. It has serious reasons. We remember the Cuban president’s wish for ‘success’ for Putin in his war of aggression against Ukraine. We hear it perfectly.”
In the same message, he clarified that the vote was not “against the Cuban people: we respect their right to live in prosperity. It is against the inaction of the Cuban authorities in response to the massive recruitment of Cuban citizens by the Russian occupation army.”
