A senior Ukrainian diplomat joined a U.S.-hosted panel at the United Nations on Monday condemning human rights abuses by the communist government of Cuba, describing Cuban citizens as among the largest groups of foreign recruits aiding the Russian invasion of his country.
Deputy Permanent Representative to the U.N. for Ukraine Volodymyr Pavlichenko addressed an event titled “Cuba Libre: The Oppression Havana Hides” on Monday hosted by American Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz and attended by several former political prisoners and human rights activists. Cuban dissidents and supporters have for years attempted to raise the issue of the Castro dynasty’s egregious human rights abuses at the U.N., but their events are typically limited to Cubans, Cuban-Americans, or Latin American supporters. The participation of the Ukrainian government in the event was an unprecedented moment in the expansion of the movement to liberate Cuba.
Pavlichenko explained that the respect for human rights in Cuba was an issue that directly affected his country, as over 1,000 Cubans have voluntarily signed contracts with the Russian armed forces to fight against Ukraine, and many others are believed to have been scammed into traveling to the battlefields and participating in the invasion.
“According to Ukrainian estimates, approximately 20,000 foreign nationals have been recruited into Russia’s armed forces,” Pavlichenko explained. “We know that Russia uses citizens of 47 countries in its war against Ukraine: from Ghana, Nepal, Tajikistan, Yemen, Kenya, the list goes on.”
“Cuban citizens are among the four largest national groups represented in this recruitment,” he continued. “Our estimates have confirmed the transfer of more than 1,000 Cuban nationals who signed a contract with the Russian army in 2023-2025 – but understand this is only our estimate, they are not depicting the full picture.”
“These recruits are being sent to fight in a war in which Russia deliberately attacks Ukrainian citizens, killing women and children, destroying critical infrastructure, including energy facilities as Ukraine faces another winter, probably the most difficult one this year,” the diplomat explained. “So we call for an end to the recruitment and deployment of Cuban nationals in Russia’s war against Ukraine. And for those being unlawfully retained in Russian military service to be released.”
“The Cuban people deserve a future built on freedom and dignity, not one in which their citizens are exploited as cannon fodder in another country’s war,” he concluded.
Ambassador Waltz, representing America, also condemned the appearance of Cuban nationals in the Ukraine war theater, observing that the Castro regime appears to be selling its citizens to be used in the war as it sells its slave doctors and others engaged in forced labor.
“The Cuban regime has also resorted to modern day slavery and forced labor. For that, it’s made billions on so-called medical missions,” he explained, “where the regime ships Cuban doctors and nurses around the world, confiscates their wages, and makes them work for free. Folks, that’s modern-day slavery. That’s forced labor. And it threatens their families if they disobey. “
“And so thousands of Cubans have also now been sent to Ukraine — and we’re going to hear about that today — as mercenaries to fight in that war. Every dollar of their wages goes right back to the regime,” he added.
Waltz noted that, whether fighting voluntarily or enslaved, all Cubans in the Ukraine war “are fighting for free because their money goes right back into regime pockets, whatever they’re promised.”
The Ukrainian government has been denouncing the presence of Russian nationals in the invasion against its territory for years. In May 2025, Ukrainian lawmaker Maryan Zablotskyy shared publicly that Ukrainian authorities estimate as many as 20,000 Cuban men were fighting alongside Russia — a figure consistent with the 1,000 Pavlichenko shared as this included men answering advertisements online for alleged construction and other civilian jobs, sometimes not even in Russia. At the time of Zablotskyy’s estimate, reports identified 1,208 Cubans who were fighting as mercenaries in the conflict, rather than slaves. Many of these made their presence known on the Russian social media network VKontakte, sharing propaganda in favor of the invasion.
Prior to the revelation that tens of thousands of Cubans may be present in the Ukraine invasion, Kyiv revealed the capture of one such national: Frank Dario Jarrosay Manfuga, 35, at the time — a musician who said he answered an ad for a construction job and found himself tossed into the battlefield. Jarrosay had no formal training and was captured because he accidentally ran into a Ukrainian trench, unable to tell the Russians from the Ukrainians.
