Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate has revealed that two Nigerian citizens died during a drone strike while serving in the Russian military in the Luhansk region.
In a statement on Thursday titled “Nigerians in a meat assault — the number of identified dead Russian mercenaries from Africa is rising,” the agency said Hamzat Kazeen Kolawole (born 3 April 1983) and Mbah Stephen Udoka (born 7 January 1988) were discovered dead in the Luhansk region during an attempt to storm Ukrainian positions in late November.
“Both served in the 423rd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (military unit 91701) of the 4th Guards Kantemirovskaya Tank Division of the armed forces of the russian federation.
They signed contracts with the Russian army in the second half of 2025: Kolawole on August 29 and Udoka on September 28, ” the statement said.
Udoka “received no training whatsoever” and was deployed to occupied Ukrainian territory “just five days later,” while Kolawole’s training records are missing, though it is “highly likely that he also received no military training.” Kolawole leaves behind a wife and three children in Nigeria.
“Both Nigerians were killed in late November during an attempt to storm Ukrainian positions in the Luhansk region. They never engaged in a firefight — the mercenaries were eliminated by a drone strike,” the statement added.
Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence further warned foreign citizens against travelling to Russia or taking work there: “A trip to Russia is a real risk of being forced into a ‘suicide’ assault unit and, ultimately, rotting in Ukrainian soil.”
The statement comes after Russia denied any official involvement in recruiting Nigerians for the war.
While CNN reports and videos have alleged that some Nigerians and other Africans were recruited under the pretext of security jobs in Russia and later deployed to the war front after brief training, the Russian Ambassador to Nigeria, Andrey Podyolyshev, said: “There is no government-supported programme to recruit Nigerians to fight in Ukraine. If there are illegal organisations or individuals trying to recruit Nigerians by unlawful means, this is not connected with the Russian state.”
