The international delegation, headed by Ana Lucía Bueno, ICRC Public Health Coordinator, and Sujit Panda, Head of the Physical Rehabilitation…
Ukrainian soldiers have captured a citizen of the Philippines who was fighting in the ranks of the Russian armed forces. The man became a victim of Russian recruiters who concealed the actual involvement of foreigners in the war against Ukraine behind promises of “high-paying jobs”.
This was reported by the “I Want to Live” project, initiated by the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War together with the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.
Who he is and how he ended up in the War
The prisoner is Raymon Santos Humangan, 52, a resident of the city of Alcala in Pangasinan province. Before traveling to Russia, he worked as a security guard and has a family.
According to him, he agreed to come to Russia in 2024 expecting to get a well-paid civilian job. Instead, he was forced to sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense, after which he became a rifleman in the 51st Airborne Regiment of the 106th Airborne Division.
In September of this year, Raymon took part in an assault on Ukrainian positions in the Sumy region. It was there that he was captured.
Russia’s “Mirror tactic”: the fake about foreign mercenaries in the AFU vs real foreigners in the Russian army
The appearance of the video with the Filipino POW coincided with another statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. In November, she accused the United States of “recruiting mercenaries for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Philippines”.
However, the facts indicate the opposite: foreigners who surrender to Ukrainian forces are those fighting specifically within the Russian military — often after deception or coercion.
Raymon is one of many such cases.
What is known about Russia’s recruitment network
According to “I Want to Live”, Russia is actively recruiting foreigners for the war against Ukraine. Methods include financial promises, deception about the nature of the work, or direct coercion to sign a contract.
The project is aware of at least 18,000 foreigners from 128 countries who have fought or are fighting in the ranks of the Russian armed forces.
More than 10,000 of their personal records have already been published.
Every week, 1–3 foreigners serving in the Russian army are taken prisoner by Ukrainian forces — overall, this statistic now includes citizens from 37 countries.
The governments of several states — including India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda, and countries of Central Asia — have publicly acknowledged the problem of Russian recruitment activities.
