Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) with Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodríguez in Havana on April 20, 2023
(Ramon Espinosa/AFP/Getty)
Saturday’s Coverage: Zelensky — “New Low in Russia Depravity” Amid Attacks on Energy Infrastructure
UPDATE 0734 GMT:
Ukraine’s air defenses downed 103 of 118 drones launched by Russia overnight. The other 15 and one missile struck 10 locations.
UPDATE 0725 GMT:
Independent Russian outlet Mediazona and BBC Russian have confirmed the identities of 135,100 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine during the 44 1/2-month full-scale invasion.
Since the end of September, the outlets have confirmed the deaths of another 2,485 Russian troops. The verification comes from public sources such as obituaries, posts by relatives, memorial community tree-plantings, regional media reports, and statements from local authorities.
The confirmed toll includes 38,200 volunteers, 18,450 recruited prisoners, and 15,200 mobilized soldiers. There are more than 5,800 officers on the list.
The actual number of deaths is likely to be far higher. Ukraine’s General Staff claim more than 1.1 million Russian casualties since February 2022.
In August, Mediazona and fellow outlet Meduza, estimated that 220,000 Russians have been slain in the invasion.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Havana has denied that up to 5,000 Cuban fighters are involved in Russia’s 44 1/2-month full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In an October 2 cable, the US State Department asserted, “After North Korea, Cuba is the largest contributor of foreign troops to Russia’s aggression, with an estimated 1,000 to 5,000 Cubans fighting in Ukraine.”
US officials circulated the cable as part of a campaign against a UN resolution calling for Washington to lift its embargo on Cuba. The restrictions have been in place since 1960.
Sent to numerous American missions, the message directed diplomats to urge foreign governments to oppose the resolution, which has passed the UN General Assembly every year since 1992.
Cuba’s Foreign Ministry responded on Saturday that the US was making “false accusations”: “It is irrefutable that none of [the fighters] have the encouragement, commitment, or consent of the Cuban State for their actions.”
The Ministry said that, since September 2023, 26 Cubans had been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 5 to 14 years for mercenary activity.
Russia’s Foreign Fighters
With more than 1.1 million casualties during the invasion, according to Ukraine’s General Staff, Russia has brought in fighters from other countries to prop up the assault.
The largest contingent is around 12,000 North Korea troops, fighting from autumn 2024 to help Moscow regain the Kursk region in western Russia. However, men have also been recruited from Nepal, Somalia, and India, usually under the false pretense of taking up a job inside Russia.
Reports circulated last year that Russian operatives were offering generous payments and the promise of citizenship to Cuban fighters, despite the Havana Government’s attempts to curb recruitment. At the time, the number of men was said to be in the low hundreds.
I Want to Live, a Ukrainian Government initiative that encourages enemy combatants to surrender, said last May: “We reliably know the names and personal details of 1,028 Cubans who signed contracts with the Russian armed forces in 2023-2024.”
