Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) has announced the death of another Nigerian citizen who was killed while fighting as a mercenary for the Russian armed forces. In an official statement released on Thursday, May 28, 2026, Ukrainian authorities identified the deceased fighter as Ayebusiwa Olabode Victor, born on April 28, 1992, and originally from Ilutitun in Ondo State, Nigeria. To corroborate the claim, the intelligence agency attached a photograph of the front page of Victor’s international Nigerian passport to their official report.
According to the military briefing, Victor was eliminated during active combat with the Defense Forces of Ukraine near the settlement of Hrafske, located within the volatile Kharkiv region. Intelligence logs indicate that he signed a formal military contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense in late February 2026. Strikingly, his enlistment occurred just one week after Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an urgent public warning on February 15, advising its citizens against illegal recruitment into foreign military campaigns following the recovery of two other Nigerian bodies, Hamzat Kazina Kalawole and Mbah Stephen Udoku, in the Luhansk region.
Ukrainian authorities emphasized that Victor’s fate mirrors a widespread, deceptive recruitment ring operated by the Kremlin across the African continent. The scheme reportedly targets young Africans via misleading employment advertisements on social platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. Victims are promised lucrative jobs, issued entry visas, and provided one-way plane tickets to Moscow. Upon arrival, intermediaries confiscate their passports under the guise of processing paperwork, isolate them in hostels, and later reveal that the promised jobs do not exist. Left stranded with canceled visas and no funds to return home, the recruits are pressured into signing military contracts they rarely understand due to language barriers, receiving only a single week of training before being deployed directly to the frontlines.
Despite persistent denials from Russian diplomats and the Kremlin regarding the systemic co-opting of foreign nationals, Ukrainian defense officials insist that the data proves otherwise. Official tracking numbers from the HUR reveal that at least 215 Nigerian nationals have signed combat contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense so far, with no fewer than 25 already confirmed killed or listed as missing in action. Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently noted that nearly 3,000 citizens from 36 African countries have been drawn into the Russian war effort through these human trafficking networks, prompting African civil society leaders to call for urgent regional investigations to dismantle the illegal recruitment syndicates.