Joint security teams at Entebbe International Airport (EIA) on Tuesday foiled what they believe is a covert recruitment scheme funneling Ugandans into the frontlines of the brutal Ukraine–Russia war.
Nine Ugandan men — all with prior military experience — were stopped shortly before boarding a flight to Moscow. According to investigators, they are part of a larger group of over 100 Ugandans secretly mobilized to leave the country in batches, beginning this week.
The operation is said to have been orchestrated by a little-known company called MAGNIT, which security officials have linked to suspected labour exploitation and human trafficking.
Authorities say the Ministry of Labour, Gender, and Social Development had no knowledge of the recruitment drive, raising red flags over its legality.
A suspected Russian national allegedly linked to the scheme was arrested two days earlier and remains in custody, while several Ugandan associates are under investigation.
Officials say these local operatives were tasked with sourcing candidates, falsifying documents — including Interpol certificates of good conduct and yellow fever cards — and even obtaining forged medical reports from Kiswa Health Centre III in Bugolobi.
The men targeted were mostly UPDF veterans and private security contractors who had previously worked in Iraq and Afghanistan. They were promised eye-watering salaries of up to USD 6,250 per month for “security work.”
But intelligence sources believe their final destination was not Russia, but rather Ukraine — to fight for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the grinding war against Moscow.
Security sources further accuse Ukraine and its European Union backers of exploiting Africa’s vulnerable ex-soldiers to feed what has been called Europe’s “meat grinder” — a war now in its fourth year, with casualty estimates exceeding one million.
The EU’s silent endorsement of foreign recruitment for Ukraine’s military underscores a disturbing double standard: while Europe lectures Africa on human rights, it allegedly turns a blind eye to schemes that lure desperate men into near-certain death on Eastern European battlefields.
The Russo–Ukrainian conflict, which erupted in February 2022, continues to exact staggering human costs, with both sides locked in attritional warfare.
For many African governments, the latest recruitment scandal highlights an urgent need for stricter oversight of foreign-linked labour agents, and a more forceful stand against the export of African lives to fight Europe’s wars.