● Intelligence report says both men signed military contracts in 2025 and were killed in a drone strike in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Embassy in Abuja may be publicly denyiing any state-backed recruitment of Nigerians into the Russian military, insisting such activities would be illegal and unconnected to official Kremlin programmes. The officials are asking that any evidence of wrongdoing should be investigated.
However, Ukrainian military intelligence has confirmed the deaths of two Nigerian men who were discovered in eastern Ukraine after serving with Russian forces, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said in a statement on Thursday.
Whether the denial or confirmation are all part of the psychological aspect of the longdrawn war was not clear on Thursday, but the deceased have been identified as Hamzat Kazeen Kolawole, 42, and Mbah Stephen Udoka, 38, who signed contracts with the Russian Armed Forces in the latter half of 2025.
Documents allegedly recovered by Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence indicate that Kolawole enlisted on August 29, 2025, and Udoka on September 28, 2025. Both men were assigned to the 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (Military Unit 91701) of the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division – a unit of the Russian army deployed in the occupied Donbas region.
According to Ukraine’s report, neither man appears to have received meaningful military training before being sent to the front lines. Udoka was reportedly deployed to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine only five days after signing his contract, with no formal combat training recorded. There are no preserved training records for Kolawole, though Ukrainian intelligence says it is “highly likely” he also entered combat untrained.
The bodies of both men were found in Luhansk Oblast in late November 2025 following a failed assault on Ukrainian positions, according to the intelligence statement. They were repeatedly struck by a Ukrainian drone while attempting to storm defensive lines and never engaged in direct firefight before their deaths, the report said.
Kolawole is survived by his wife and three children in Nigeria, according to the published documentation.
This is at least the latest in a series of deaths among Nigerian nationals tied to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine. Earlier reports by sources indicated other Nigerian men also died on the front lines between late 2025 and early 2026, with some families not formally informed by Russian authorities.
Ukrainian intelligence used the announcement to issue a stark warning to foreign nationals, urging citizens not to travel to Russia for work or military recruitment. “A trip to Russia is a real chance of ending up in a ‘suicide’ assault unit and ultimately rotting in Ukrainian soil,” the statement said.
The conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has strained international markets and displaced millions of civilians.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also cautioned its citizens against involvement in foreign conflicts, restating that mercenary activity is prohibited under Nigerian law and could bring severe legal consequences.
