September 21, 2026

Ukraine's SZRU Identifies at Least 27 Yemenis Russia Is Preparing to Send to War

Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service (SZRU) said it has identified at least 27 Yemeni citizens that Russia's side plans to draw into its war against Ukraine, and that Russian military structures are directly involved in processing the men's paperwork.

A Legalization-to-Contract Pipeline

According to SZRU, in July 2026 Lieutenant K. Pervushin, head of a military contract-service enlistment office in Khanty-Mansiysk, asked Russia's FSB Border Service to legalize the status of a group of Yemeni citizens in the country - specifically so the men could then be signed to military service contracts. The legal basis SZRU points to is Presidential Decree No. 821, signed by Vladimir Putin on November 5, 2025, which set up a temporary procedure for granting Russian citizenship and residence permits; formally a migration measure, SZRU says it is being used in practice as "a tool for supplying manpower" for the war. The pattern the agency describes is consistent: a foreigner is first legalized in Russia through a simplified procedure, then the foreigner signs a contract military service - a process SZRU says involves both the FSB Border Service and local military enlistment offices.

SZRU said the identified Yemenis include men born as recently as 2006 and 2007 - "quite young people," in the agency's words, whom the Kremlin is "ready to throw into war for money and the promise of legal status in Russia."

The Documents

We reviewed passport and Russian visa scans covering 25 of the men SZRU says are part of this group, spanning locations across Yemen from Taiz and Sanaa to Aden and Marib. Most describe their occupation as laborer; several list themselves as students. Two of the documents are Russian visas rather than Yemeni passports, issued for single-entry business travel - consistent with the legalization step SZRU describes preceding a military contract.

#	Name (as printed on document)	Governorate / place of birth	Born
1	Sameh Adel Ali Al-Kelidi	-	13 Jul 1994
2	Talal Ahmed Saad Hasan Al-Akili	-	1 Jan 2001
3	Amjad Abdo Al-Hafeeth Abbo Mohammed Sallam	Taiz	4 Jan 2001
4	Abdulaziz Mugahed Abdullah Al-Salami	Sanaa	23 Jan 2000
5	Belal Abdullah Mohsen Hamood Murshed	Amran	25 Nov 2003
6	Al-Hamzah Taleb Hadi Ahmed Al-Dauduaa	Shabwah	13 Jan 1994
7	Elyas Adel Abdulwahab Abdulhak Sultan	Taiz	12 Nov 2007
8	Mohammed Najib Yahya Al-Halyani	Ibb	3 Aug 1993
9	Daris Ahmed Hussein Hezam Al-Omaitheli	Marib	5 Mar 1992
10	Abdullah Ali Ali Al-Bahashi	Bayda	2 Jul 1981
11	Saeed Nabil Baggash Ahmed Al-Dubai	Hodeidah	1 Jan 1991
12	Mazen Ahmed Nasser Zoqah	Hajah	1 Jan 1994
13	Saqr Saeed Abdullah Al-Maswari	Raimah	23 Sep 2003
14	Abdulrahman Mohammed Mohammed Jassar	Taiz	1 Jan 1996
15	Gazem Mohammed Mohammed Ahmed Al-Shaibah	Amran	15 Feb 1992
16	Yousef Mohammed Ahmed Al-Hamzi	Dhamar	1 Jan 1985
17	Mohammed Sultan Ghanem Abdo	Taiz	27 Jun 1994
18	Zakarya Yahya Muthanna	Alphalqa	1 Jan 1998
19	Sami Ahmed Mgammal Abdullah	Aden	1 May 1994
20	Saeed Farid Saeed Ghaleq	Sanaa	approx. 1998
21	Yousef Mohammed Ahmed Ghaleb Al-Ghaili	Hajah	1 Jan 1989
22	Hamzah Saleh Abdo Al-Fatesh	Sanaa	8 Sep 2001
23	Yousef Thabit Mohammed Giyash	Ibb	24 Feb 1993
24	Shamsan Ahmed Ali Saleh Al-Jadas	Al-Baidha	1 Jan 1990
25	Abdullah Abdo Mohammed Hasan	Taiz	7 Jan 2000

SZRU's disclosure names at least 27 total; we were not able to review documents for the remaining two. We attach the documents published by SZRU below:

Get Out Safely

According to SZRU's disclosure, legalization and contracting pipeline of these individuals is still in progress. They have a chance to avoid getting on the list of foreigners killed in Russia's army by reaching out to the "I Want to Live" project - which helps individuals lured into Russia's army safely escape the battlefield.