Russia has recruited up to 20,000 Cubans for the frontlines in Ukraine, and between 200 to 300 have died in the war

https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-06-09/russia-recruits-cubans-for-the-frontlines-in-ukraine-its-all-been-a-scam.html

by Straight_Ad2258

5 comments

  1. copied my comment from r/europe

    Cuban mercenaries are one of the biggest dangers for Ukraine and for Europe, because they, unlike poor African or Indian workers drafted, actually have combat training due to conscription laws of 2 years of military service

    i dont understand why Western countries don’t take in as many Cuban migrants as possible to drain the country of its demographic reserve

    for the simple reason that the less meat Cuba ,Belarus, NK have ,the fewer soldiers Europe needs for its defense, since those countries are the biggest suppliers of mercenaries to Russia now and in a prolonged war

    **you don’t want military service in your country? ensure the other side has fewer available bodies**

    **otherwise i don’t want to hear anyone complain of mandatory military service in Europe in the coming years . There was a way to deprive Russia of mercenaries and you were against it**

    Cuba is a small country ,its population fell by over 1.5 million people past decade due to emigration and low birth rates, and its births have crashed 40% past decade

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Cuba#Registered_births_and_deaths](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Cuba#Registered_births_and_deaths)

    they are also very highly skilled, as much as I hate the Cuban regime, its doctors and nurses are famous in the world

    **for the love of my life, i can’t understand why any European country doesn’t have a policy that any Cuban doctor or nurse who enters the country gets automatically a residence permit**

    since its population is falling every year , eventually they will run low even of emigrants, and there won’t be a need for asylum anymore

    and if you are worried about rising housing crisis, then countries could lower the number of legal visas for other countries to compensate for increased influx of Cubans

  2. Doesn’t mean anything when drones are flying at you. Doesn’t matter how well trained you may be

  3. The west, more specifically the US, has kept Cuba in locked step with the Russians over and over again. The Cubans don’t really voluntarily ally themselves with the Russians. But the US doesn’t really give them options. If we actually cared about these things we could conditionally further dismantle the embargo against them. The fact that Azerbaijan, that borders Russia is openly defying them surly means that Cuba would have much more to gain then lose by shifting westward.

  4. Russia may be recruiting from all over the world but that doesn’t mean they have unlimited soldiers. There are plenty of Russians so It actually indicates Russia doesn’t want to or can’t use its own people to the extent they need. 

    Also, Russias strategy is to pay soldiers tons of money so money is the bottleneck not soldiers. 

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