January 25, 2026: Russia has had increasing problems obtaining soldiers for the Special Operation in Ukraine. Few Russians disagreed with the decision to invade Ukraine. But since Russia itself was not invaded, as it was in 1941 when the Germans sought to conquer Russia, few Russians were willing to join and fight in Ukraine. The government has to pay increasingly large signing bonuses to obtain soldiers to replace the growing losses in Ukraine. By early 2026 1.2 million Russian soldiers had been killed, disabled or were missing in Ukraine. By 2025 few Russians were willing to take the money and fight in Ukraine.

By 2024 Russia began to recruit foreigners. They obtained 14,000 North Korean soldiers, but it wasn’t enough. Cuba allowed Russia to recruit 5,000 men for the Ukraine war. Russian recruiters were sent to many nations, to recruit as many men as they could. In relatively poor nations, the money the Russians were offering was impressive. Signing bonuses of over $20,000, and monthly pay of $2,000 or more were life-changing amounts for unemployed men in Third World countries.

India is a rapidly developing nation but there is still a lot of unemployment. India is the only nation with over 1.25 billion people and Russian recruiters found that even Indian university students in Russia were willing to sign up. Sometimes the Russians speeded up the process by arresting Indians studying or working in Russia. The charges were often bogus or exaggerated. The Russians know that imprisoned foreigners were willing to take the money, join the army and be sent to Ukraine. By 2025 anyone who paid attention to what was going on in Ukraine realized that Russian troops continued to take heavy casualties. Russian recruiters took advantage of that because foreign recruits who died in Ukraine often did not get all the money they were owed (nor did many families of Russian soldiers). Russia promised to send money to dead foreign soldiers’ families but usually did not.

The Indian government never approved of Russia recruiting Indians for the Ukraine war and by late 2025 the Russians were allowing Indians in the Russian army to return to India. India is one of the few allies Russia has and if the Indian government wanted Indian citizens in the Russian army discharged, that’s what happened. No one is sure how many Indians ended up in the Russian army. The best estimate is that over 200 Indians joined and nearly forty were killed or are missing. At least fifty Indians are still unaccounted for.