{"id":50728,"date":"2026-02-24T15:09:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=50728"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:09:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:09:59","slug":"eleven-south-africans-recruited-russia-head-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/02\/24\/eleven-south-africans-recruited-russia-head-home\/","title":{"rendered":"11 South Africans recruited to fight for Russia head home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>One recruit remains hospitalised in Moscow as repatriation efforts continue.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Eleven of the 17 South African men recruited to fight for Russia against Ukraine are set to arrive in South Africa soon.<\/p>\n<p>The men were allegedly lured to join mercenary forces involved in the Ukraine-Russia war under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-government-confirms-return-plans\">Government confirms return plans<\/h2>\n<p>Four of the 17 returned home a few days ago; two remain in Russia, with one in a hospital in Moscow, while the other is being processed before finalising his travel arrangements, said President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya.<\/p>\n<p>Magwenya said Ramaphosa welcomed the return of the South African men as the circumstances surrounding their recruitment remain under investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPresident Ramaphosa has expressed his heartfelt gratitude to President Vladimir Putin, who responded positively to his call to support the process of returning the men home,\u201d Magwenya said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The spokesperson said the South African embassy in Moscow, Russia, \u201cwill continue to monitor the individual who is in hospital until he has fully recovered to travel\u201d.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-diplomatic-intervention-between-pretoria-and-moscow\">Diplomatic intervention between Pretoria and Moscow<\/h3>\n<p>The men\u2019s repatriation follows a 10 February phone call between Ramaphosa and Putin, where the heads of state pledged their support to the process of returning South Africans fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ: Embassy denies 17 trapped SA men were fighting for Ukraine<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In November last year, the South African government received distress calls from the 17 men, aged between 20 and 39, who were trapped in the war-torn Donbas, Ukraine, and seeking help to return home.<\/p>\n<p>One of the men is from the Eastern Cape, while the rest come from KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-harsh-frontline-conditions\">Harsh frontline conditions<\/h3>\n<p>During an interview with Reuters in December, the father of one of the men detailed the suffering his son was enduring.<\/p>\n<p>The father, Dubandlela, confirmed that his son was promised training as a bodyguard, but was instead sent to fight for Russia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the time, my boy is crying,\u201d he said, adding that his son has begged him to talk to someone to get him back to South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Dubandlela said that, along with having to dig trenches almost daily in freezing weather, they didn\u2019t get enough food or water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[For] maybe five days, they didn\u2019t get any food; It\u2019s so hard even to bathe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOW READ: Military recruitment case postponed to seek mutual legal assistance from Russia<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p>Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#South #Africans #recruited #fight #Russia #home<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One recruit remains hospitalised in Moscow as repatriation efforts continue. Eleven of the 17 South African men recruited to fight&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50730,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50728\/revisions\/50730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}