455 South Asians killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine war: Report

The list of those killed – including citizens of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan – shows casualty figures far higher in some cases than those so far released or acknowledged by govts of the region. The data also names Southasians known to have been recruited into the Russian military from these countries, with a tally of 1,923 recruits. The data — provided to Himal Southasian and Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project by Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of Wars, and in part obtained from sources within the Russian military as well – covers the period from the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to Sept 2025.

Sri Lanka tops the list of deaths, with at least 275 citizens killed in action out of at least 751 recruited, says the Himal report published on March 5. “The actual number of Sri Lankan nationals recruited into the Russian army, as well as those killed or missing in action, is likely significantly higher,” the Coordination Headquarters told Himal. The country’s foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, informed the Sri Lankan parliament last year that 59 Sri Lankans had been killed out of 554 recruited as of Jan 2025. The Sri Lankan foreign ministry had not responded to questions from Himal.In Dec 2025, the Indian govt reported 26 deaths and 202 Indian recruits. In May 2024, CBI had arrested four traffickers, including a Russian translator, who used YouTube to recruit Indian youth with the promise of work only to deploy them to the frontlines.Five Afghans have been killed out of 18 recruited, and three out of 22 Pakistani recruits have perished. In August 2025, Pakistan’s govt denied that there were any Pakistani nationals fighting in the conflict, dismissing allegations to the contrary as “baseless and unfounded”. Six Myanmar nationals are also listed as recruits, with no deaths recorded.Himal did not receive responses to queries sent to these govts about updated official figures.A spokesperson for the Coordination Headquarters told Himal that based on data for 3,390 foreign fighters killed, including those from beyond Southasia, “42% of them died within the first four months after signing the contract”. There have been numerous reports of Southasians being deployed to the frontlines with little or inadequate training.Language barriers and a lack of modern fighting equipment have also been cited as contributing to Southasians being killed in action.