Russia is recruiting hundreds of Yemeni men to fight in its war in Ukraine by luring them to Russia under false pretenses in coordination with the Houthi terrorist network, according to a Financial Times report.
Yemeni recruits who were transferred to Russia as part of a “smuggling operation” were initially told they would receive well-paid jobs and Russian citizenship.
However, after arriving with the help of a Houthi-linked company, many were apparently coerced into joining the Russian military, forced to sign combat contracts at gunpoint, and sent to the front lines in Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers from a mortar team of the 24th Brigade are seen on positions near Toretsk as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues in Toretsk, Ukraine March 26, 2024. ((Photo by Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the U.S. State Department or Ukraine’s Defense Ministry for comment on Russia’s increasing use of foreign fighters to aid its war machine in Ukraine.
It is unclear whether some of the Yemeni men are Houthi terrorists or how many were sent to fight in Ukraine, although the Financial Times report on Sunday suggests recruitment may have begun in July. At least 200 Yemeni men are believed to have been part of a single group forcibly conscripted into the Russian army in September – most of whom had little training before being sent to Ukraine to fight.
A video published by the London newspaper showed at least five Yemeni men, four in the video with the cameraman, explaining their dire situation and noting that one of their comrades had attempted suicide but was taken to hospital before be put back into service one day later.
“We are now under bombardment,” said the man holding the camera, which expressed exhaustion and showed a group of men holed up in a Ukrainian forest. “Mines, drones, dug bunkers, we transport wood.”
U.S. diplomats told the outlet that the coordinated project between the Houthis and Russia shows how far Moscow is willing to go to bolster its forces despite the high number of casualties.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry estimated Monday that Russia had suffered more than 730,000 casualties in the nearly three-year war, although U.S. assessments from early October suggested the figure was closer to 600,000. , including some 115,000 deaths and around 500,000 injured.
Ukrainian soldiers fire at targets on the front line towards the town of Ugledar, Donetsk, Ukraine, as the Russo-Ukrainian war continues on April 18, 2023. (Photo by Muhammed Enes Yildirim/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Although the Financial Times report suggests that hundreds or more of Yemeni men could be forced to fight in Ukraine, they are not the only foreign fighters drawn into the Russian war machine.
North Korea has sent some 12,000 troops to help Russia, and reports earlier this year suggested that men from India and Nepal were lured into fighting for Moscow under false pretenses, seeing themselves there yet promised lucrative jobs before being sent to the war in Ukraine.
It is unclear how many Indian men have been drafted into the Russian military, although a Time report in August indicated that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi apparently raised the subject with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow in July. Modi reportedly received assurances that Russia would do everything it could to return all Indian mercenaries, although the status of that deal remains unclear.
CNN also reported earlier this year that some 15,000 Nepalese men had also been recruited to fight alongside Russia – illustrating a trend that shows Russia targeting poor countries to falsely attract fighters to its ranks.
Russia has strengthened ties with Iran, and by extension, Iran’s proxy forces like the Houthis, since Putin launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine in 2022.
Protesters, mainly supporters of the Houthis, brandish weapons as they gather to show support for the Palestinians and Lebanese Hezbollah in Sanaa, Yemen, November 8, 2024. (Reuters/Khaled Abdallah)
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It is unclear what exactly Russia promised the Houthis in return for their help in Moscow’s latest conscription project, and security officials have yet to confirm any arms sales from Russia to the terrorist network. .
Russia, however, is known to have aided the group by providing targeting data, which the group uses in its attacks on Western shipping in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have also sent at least two delegations to Russia this year to meet with senior Kremlin officials.
