Volodymyr Zelensky declared on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the war in Ukraine that World War Three had already begun.
His statement reflected the increasingly global nature of Russia’s war, which has seen troops from countries across the world brought in to either bolster Putin’s aggression or support Ukraine’s resistance.
Since February 2022, around 55,000 Ukrainians have been killed in bitter fighting on the frontlines, according to Ukrainian estimates. Russia has suffered an estimated 1.2 million casualties, including at least 325,000 deaths, according to recent analysis.
Some 20,000 men from overseas are now estimated to have joined Russia’s invasion. Many have been falsely sold the promise of lucrative employment away from the frontlines. Ukraine has offered professional soldiers fixed contracts paying rates higher than what they could earn at home.
Moscow has used foreign troops to alleviate the strain on its forces and, crucially, delay another round of politically contentious mobilisation – a move likely to spark public anger.
Ahead of the fourth anniversary of the conflict, The Independent looks at some of the countries dragged into Russia’s war in Ukraine.
North Korea
North Korea assumed a major role in the conflict in support of Russia in late 2024, helping to set back a bold Ukrainian counteroffensive into Russian-held territory.
The first reports of North Koreans training in Russia came in the weeks after emboldened Ukrainian forces launched a summer offensive into Russia’s Kursk region. Pyongyang would commit some 17,000 troops to Russia in total, according to recent British estimates.
Most of the soldiers came from North Korea’s elite ‘Storm Corps’, which are trained for infiltration and sabotage operations. They remained in Kursk to help Russia recover control of its own region before mostly withdrawing.
The UK Ministry of Defence assessed in June that Pyongyang had likely sustained more than 6,000 casualties fighting Ukraine – a little over a third of its forces.
Emil Kastehelmi, military analyst and cofounder of the Finland-based open-source intelligence collective Black Bird Group, told The Independent that “after fighting in Kursk, they’ve taken a less active role against Ukrainians”.
He said that while multiple brigades were used in Kursk, no such force has since been transferred to Donetsk, the region of eastern Ukraine sought by Putin.
North Korea has been fighting its own propaganda war at home, glorifying the troops sent to Kursk with a new memorial complex and a housing district set aside for the families of slain soldiers. Analysis say such treatment is aimed at curbing public discontent.
Kenya
Harrowing footage showing the abuse of African soldiers by Russian troops sparked outrage late last year.
Francis Ndung’u Ndarua, 35, from Kenya, was filmed in viral footage with a land mine strapped to his chest as a Russian speaker hurled racial slurs at him and said he would be used as a “can opener” to assault Ukrainian positions.
Anne Ndarua, his mother, told CNN that Francis had gone to Russia to become an electrical engineer. She was surprised to learn he was being forced into military training, and says he was sent to the front after just three weeks.
Families have petitioned for the Kenyan government to act in recent weeks as soldiers began to return home, recounting how they were lured in by lucrative job offers only to be sent to Ukraine.
A Kenyan intelligence report found this month that around 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited to fight in Ukraine so far. Nearly 90 were on the frontlines this month, while one has died and several have come home injured or traumatised, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said in its report. The government has recently tried to ban the conscription of Kenyan soldiers.
“They sometimes may not fully understand what is the battlefield they are entering,” Mr Kastehelmi said, adding: “Russians probably can pay better and they may have also more effective recruiting networks.”
Colombia
Both Russia and Ukraine have recruited soldiers from Latin America to fill in their ranks.
Colombian veterans are considered among the most valuable foreign fighters, arriving hardened from a decades-long civil war, and familiar with Western equipment.
Mario Urueña-Sánchez, a security expert at Rosario University in Bogotá, told The Economist that casualty rates remain high as Colombians arrive to meet a very different conflict from the one at home.
“In Colombia, you can patrol for six months and there isn’t as much risk involved,” a Colombian Army veteran now fighting in Ukraine told El Tiempo. “Here, with every entry (into combat) you know you might not come back or you might come back wounded.”
Figures vary, and recruitment is often informal, but it is estimated that between 3,000 and 7,000 Colombians have fought in Ukraine, on both sides, since 2022.
In 2024, Colombian fighters were offered between $3,000 to $4,000 per month to join existing Ukrainian units on six-month contracts, according to CEPA.
India
More than 200 Indians have been recruited into the Russian armed forces since the invasion, India’s foreign ministry reported in December, amid rising concern about citizens being lured into the military.
At least 26 people were said to have been killed and seven were still missing at the time of the report.
Dozens of families gathered in New Delhi in November to call on the authorities to bring their relatives home, as they too heard that they had been duped into travelling to Russia for paid work only to be forced into military roles.
Among India’s casualties are Ajay Godara, 22, and Rakesh Kumar Maurya, 30, who had travelled to Russia separately on student visas, before taking up non-combat roles as cleaners and helpers, according to their families. Their bodies were returned to their families last year.
British defence minister John Healey said this month that Russia’s military is increasingly reliant on foreign fighters as losses mount faster than Moscow can replenish its frontlines.
These troops are “often recruited under false pretences and press-ganged under pressure without necessarily realising that they’re destined for the Russian meat machine on the front line of Ukraine,” he said.