Ukraine engages special services to seek Batswana in war
Innocent Selatlhwa - Mbongeni Mguni | Monday May 4, 2026 10:40
The Embassy in Gaborone promised to leave no stone unturned in an attempt to help Botswana and other African countries get information on their citizens believed to have been duped into being part of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukraine's Ambassador to Botswana, Dr Oleksiy Syvak, told Mmegi they have inquiries and requests for information about relatives who went to Russia and are missing there, with no information on their whereabouts.
“We have received this information, and we actually passed this along with the inquiries from the government of Botswana to the competent institutions in Ukraine and also to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in order to have this investigation. “We understand that Botswana is our partner country, and if this is of concern to the government and the people of Botswana, we are ready to help,” he said.
Though Syvak said no specific information has been discovered to present to the government or share publicly, the country’s special services are at work.
“They are collecting information, and it will be presented to the government first if we have any available,” he said.
The Ambassador added that there had been a recent meeting of foreign ministers at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey.
He said the ministers discussed many issues, including preventing foreign mercenaries.
“We agreed to cooperate in finding information about missing people from African countries and other countries, if this information is available,” he told Mmegi. “As you may understand, these people are not going to Ukraine. “They are going to Russia, and it means that this is Russia who actually possesses all this information. “But we are trying to do our best in order to make these investigations and to help our partners to identify where these people are.”
The Ambassador said the Ukrainian government had learned from articles in the South African media about the recruitment of South African and Botswana citizens last year.
“We understand that this happened,” he said. “We are following the situation through the available resources, and we are trying to respond to the facts, to the applications that we have from Botswana and from other countries on the situation.”
Syvak stated the situation of missing citizens on the war front is not unique to Botswana. He said, according to the Ukrainian government’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Russia has involved about 27,400 foreign nationals from as many as 135 countries all over the world in the war.
“This is a significant force. “That's a lot of people, and many of them were recruited through deception, financial coercion, or even sometimes direct force. “At this point, we know from this organisation, that about 3,388 of them have been killed,” he said, adding that the data is as at November 2025.
The Ambassador said this is happening because Russia does not have enough manpower itself, and is looking for recruits from all over the world to help in operations against Ukraine.
The Ambassador said in many cases, Russia treats those people as “cheap cannon fodder”.
“This engagement requires both parties to identify where the enemy is located. So, what Russians do is that they actually use the foreign citizens and send them to the front line in order to identify the locations of Ukrainian troops, and then to strike back,” he said.
He said they gather this information from prisoners of war who are in Ukrainian captivity and then present it to the public through interviews.
Syvak warned Batswana to be cautious about recruitment schemes involving Russia.
“We have a number of cases where foreign citizens are involved in schemes that they cannot predict and end up at the front line on the Russian side as Russia wages a war against Ukraine. “My warning to all of these people is to be very careful in choosing the reason to travel to the countries that have proved they are dangerous to stay in and where they are using foreign individuals for the illegal actions, as mercenaries.”
The Ambassador cited a programme run by an entity called Alabuga Start, which held recruitment activities in Botswana last April, targeting young Batswana women aged 18 to 22.
Syvak said Alabuga is connected to an area where Russians produce Shahed drones to be used against Ukraine.
“The plan to produce military drones is a legitimate military target for Ukrainians. Even though it is quite far from the front line right now, it can be hit by Ukrainian strikes to prevent Russia from producing more aggressive weapons that is uses against Ukraine in this war of aggression,” he said.