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Two Nigerian nationals, Hamzat Kazeen Kolawole and Mbah Stephen Udoka, were killed during an assault on Ukrainian positions in the Luhansk region in November, according to Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence.
Both men had enlisted with the Russian army under questionable circumstances, with their contracts signed in the latter half of 2025.
Kolawole, 42 and Udoka, 37, joined the Russian military’s 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, part of the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division.
Both were allegedly deployed to the frontlines without any formal training, with Udoka deployed just five days after signing his contract on September 28, 2025. The men were sent to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, where they met their end. The foreign nationals had no prior combat experience, and they were killed by a Ukrainian drone strike without ever engaging in direct combat.
Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence has since issued a warning to potential foreign recruits, advising against travelling to Russia or taking employment with the Russian military. It underscores the risks of being forced into what is effectively a “suicide” assault unit, where soldiers are sent to their deaths with little training and no guarantees of survival.
