‘Treated like dogs’: Russia recruiting thousands of Nepali men to fight in war on Ukraine
Around 2,000 Nepali men have been recruited by Russia to fight in its war against Ukraine, Sky News understands.
Driven by poverty, many of the Nepali mercenaries are now desperate to return.
Ganesh, 35, is one of the few recruits lucky enough to have made it home. He spent four and a half months fighting in Donetsk and he says Nepalis were “treated like dogs”.
“It was very frightening. It wasn’t man to man, bullet to bullet. We were attacked by drones and it was terrifying,” he said.
We spoke to him in Kathmandu as he prayed at a temple, relieved but traumatised by his experience on the frontline.
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Ganesh only escaped the Russian military on his third attempt
He says soldiers were taken to Avangard training centre, a military academy outside of Moscow, where they were for two weeks.
Ganesh served 10 years in the Indian army, but many others alongside him were young and inexperienced. He describes some as never having held a gun before.
‘Thrown into conflict with little support’
After training, he says there was a sharp shift in the way foreign mercenaries were treated: they were suddenly thrown into conflict with very little support.
“For the first two weeks of training, life was good. But once we were sent to Ukraine, we didn’t have enough food and were beaten by the Russians. It was really bad.”
Nepali men, Ganesh claims, were cannon fodder in their war. “The original Russian soldiers were behind us. On the frontline it was mercenaries.”
He describes a clear pecking order with Russian criminals, Nepalis and Indians ahead of Kremlin troops.
Ganesh saw three Nepali men killed on the battlefield, but has heard of many, many more casualties.
‘Once we were sent to Ukraine, we didn’t have enough food and were beaten by the Russians’
Soldiers told Russia was ‘full of opportunities’
He says he was struggling to find work and when he went to an agent to see if he could work in Luxembourg, the agent suggested he should go to Russia instead because it was “full of opportunities”.
Ganesh then had to take out a loan and pay him one million Nepali Rupees (nearly £6,000) to travel from Moscow via Dubai on a tourist visa.
The average monthly Nepali salary is the equivalent of less than £150. But he was told by the agent he could earn about £1,675 a month if he joined the Kremlin’s campaign.
Once in Russia he then had to pay another agent nearly £800 just to be taken to the training camp.
Ganesh said they were attacked by drones
The figure of 2,000 men recruited into the Russian army is based on the testimony of returning soldiers, as well as Russian immigration data. It has also been cross-referenced with estimates provided by campaigners supporting the families of those still serving or dead.
Many Nepalis have described being given student or tourist visas to get to Russia and the Nepali government is so concerned, that it has taken action.
Nepal has asked for soldiers to be repatriated
It was already illegal for Nepalis to fight for foreign militaries, including Russia’s. But in January this year, the government banned its citizens from travelling to Russia or Ukraine for work and has asked Moscow to repatriate all Nepalis who were recruited.
Superintendent Nawaraj Adhikari told Sky News the police are cracking down on agents – the men who help sort the documents required to cross into Russia and illegally fight its war.
“Police have already arrested 22 suspects,” he said. “It’s a big, serious problem.”
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Superintendent Nawaraj Adhikari
The relatives of more than 150 Nepali mercenaries have filed requests appealing to the consular department after losing contact with their relatives. And yet, men desperate to escape poverty, continue to make the perilous journey to the battlefield.
‘It’s not like it looks on TikTok’
Many say they were wooed by watching TikTok videos of happy-looking recruits training in Russia. But Ganesh is urging anyone considering it not to sign up.
“I would tell them not to go. On TikTok you see them with fancy uniforms with fancy guns. But it’s nothing like that.”
TikTok videos showing Nepali men in the Russian army
Getting out of the war is proving treacherous. Ganesh said he tried to flee with six other Nepali men, but was caught and badly beaten by Russian soldiers.
He tried a second time to use an agent. “There was a Nepali guy, I contacted him and he said to send me 200,000 rubles (£1,700).
“I did that, then ran away from the barracks and looked around for the taxi he was meant to send but it wasn’t there. Then he went out of contact.”
Ganesh said many of his fellow Nepalis had tried the same. “I have seen 10 to 15 Nepalis who were wandering around, out of their minds, cheated by agents.”
He eventually fled again on foot, sleeping in old buildings, spending a week in the forest before finally surrendering to the Russian police in Donetsk.
“I realised I could not cross the border and that I wouldn’t survive if I stayed here. I gave myself up and went to the police. I was detained for one-and-a-half months and then they sent me back to Nepal.”
Kritu Bhandari, a Kathmandu-based politician and social campaigner, has become the leader of a group of family members of Nepali mercenaries who are calling for their return from Russia.
She says in recent weeks about 700 families have asked her for help in bringing their relatives home. She says she is also aware of 260 mercenaries who are out of contact with their loved ones.
Kathmandu
The Nepali government told Sky News 246 of its citizens are fighting for the Russian army currently and that at least 21 have been killed. But lawmakers and human rights’ campaigners in Nepal say those official estimates vastly underestimate the real numbers.
According to the Nepali Foreign Ministry, Russian authorities have reportedly agreed to provide compensation to the victims’ families and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has assured his Nepali counterpart that he will address their concerns.
But Moscow has said nothing yet about stopping the recruitment of Nepalis or repatriating the dead. Sky News asked the Russian Ministry of Defence and the embassy in Nepal to comment on Ganesh’s allegations, and to provide the number of Nepali mercenaries in its armed forces. Neither have yet responded.
What is clear is that Nepal is caught in a conflict it has no stake in, driven by many who were trying to escape poverty.
They now look increasingly exposed with no guarantees of a safe return.
The sole surviving guest of a lunch where three others died after being served food laced with toxic mushrooms has told an Australian court that the actions of murderer Erin Patterson have left him feeling “half alive”.
Ian Wilkinson, who received a liver transplant and spent months in hospital after the poisoning in July 2023, described how he had been left traumatised as he delivered his victim impact statement at Patterson’s pre-sentencing hearing in Melbourne.
Patterson, 50, was found guilty last month of luring her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home in Leongatha and poisoning them with individual portions of Beef Wellington that contained toxic death cap mushrooms.
A jury also found her guilty of the attempted murder of Mr Wilkinson, Heather’s husband.
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Australian mother found guilty of killing three relatives by serving toxic lunch
Speaking at the start of the two-day hearing, Mr Wilkinson, a Baptist pastor, said the death of his wife had left him bereft.
“It’s a truly horrible thought to live with that somebody could decide to take her life. I only feel half alive without her,” he said, breaking down in tears.
“It’s one of the distressing shortcomings of our society that so much attention is showered on those who do evil and so little on those who do good.”
Ian and Heather Wilkinson. Pic: The Salvation Army Australia – Museum
‘I bear her no ill will’
He described Gail and Don Patterson, the parents of Erin Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson, as the closest people to him after his wife and family.
“My life is greatly impoverished without them,” Mr Wilkinson said.
“I’m distressed that Erin has acted with callous and calculated disregard for my life and the lives of those I love. What foolishness possesses a person to think that murder could be the solution to their problems, especially the murder of people who have only good intentions towards her?”
Pic: AP
He called on Patterson, who said the poisonings were accidental and continues to maintain her innocence, to confess to her crimes.
“I encourage Erin to receive my offer of forgiveness for those harms done to me with full confession and repentance. I bear her no ill will,” he said.
“I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim and she has become the victim of my kindness.”
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The court received a total of 28 victim impact statements, of which seven were read publicly.
Don and Gail Patterson. Picture: Facebook
‘An irreparably broken home’
Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson – who was invited to the lunch but declined – spoke of the devastating impact on the couple’s two children.
“The grim reality is they live in an irreparably broken home with only a solo parent, when almost everyone else knows their mother murdered their grandparents,” he said in a statement that was read out on his behalf.
Patterson attended the court in person on Monday rather than watch via a video link from prison which she did during a hearing earlier this month.
The hearing is scheduled to continue on Tuesday.
Patterson faces a potential life sentence for each of the murders and 25 years for attempted murder.
She has 28 days from the day of her sentencing to appeal, but has not yet indicated whether she will do so.
Israel pounded the outskirts of Gaza City overnight, as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.
Families streamed out of the city as the explosions hit.
“I stopped counting the times I had to take my wife and three daughters and leave my home in Gaza City,” said Mohammad, 40.
“No place is safe, but I can’t take the risk. If they suddenly begin the invasion, they will use heavy fire.”
Mahmoud Abedrabo mourns over the body of his son Hamada in Gaza City on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Others said they would prefer to die and not leave.
“We are not leaving, let them bomb us at home,” said Aya, 31, who has a family of eight, adding that they couldn’t afford to buy a tent or pay for the transportation.
“We are hungry, afraid and don’t have money,” she said.
Mourners pray next to the body of Palestinian boy Hamada Abedrabo on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Witnesses said that overnight they heard nonstop explosions in Zeitoun and Shejaia.
Tanks shelled houses and roads in Sabra, and buildings were blown up in Jabalia.
On Sunday, the IDF said its forces had returned to combat in Jabalia to strengthen its control of the area and dismantle militant tunnels.
Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
It added that the operation there “enables the expansion of combat into additional areas and prevents Hamas terrorists from returning to operate in these areas.”
This month, Israel approved a plan to seize control of Gaza City. The offensive isn’t expected to start for another few weeks.
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In the meantime, mediators in Egypt and Qatar are trying to resume ceasefire talks between the two sides.
On Friday, Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said that Gaza City will be razed unless Hamas releases all its remaining hostages and ends the war on Israel’s terms.
Mourners transport the body of Ahmed Balata on 24 August. Pic: Reuters
Around half of Gaza’s two million residents currently live in the city and on Friday a global hunger monitor said that Gaza City and its surrounding areas are officially suffering from famine that will likely spread.
Israel said the monitor ignores steps Israel has taken since late July to increase aid supplies into and across Gaza.
Eight more people died of malnutrition and starvation in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry on Saturday.
281 people, including 114 children, have now died of malnutrition and starvation since the war started, according to the ministry.
The war began on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people in southern Israel, mainly civilians, and took 251 hostages.
Since then, Israel has killed at least 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, and internally displaced nearly its entire population.
Two married couples have died after a British car veered off the road and crashed in Germany, according to police.
The fatal accident happened shortly after midnight on Saturday in the trees near a highway in the Kassel district, north of Hesse in central Germany.
The 32-year-old male driver, a 31-year-old female passenger, a 32-year-old female passenger, and a 30-year-old female passenger all died at the scene, despite the efforts of German emergency services.
Sky News understands UK officials have not been contacted for assistance.
At roughly 12.30am on Saturday, the car appears to have veered off the road and crashed into nearby trees around 30m from the road, according to the Kassel police department.
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
One of the victim’s phones automatically alerted the emergency services to the incident, who sent an ambulance to the scene.
Soon, fire engines, ambulances, command vehicles and emergency support vehicles were all dispatched.
When emergency workers arrived, the car was lying on its side, wedged between several trees.
It wasn’t until they removed the roof that they found all four passengers.
Pic: Feuerwehr Reinhardshagen
The accident happened on Highway L3229
The emergency workers who dealt with the victims were immediately supported by the specialist mental health workers at the fire station in Reinhardshagen.
“This high number of deaths is an extraordinary operation for our Reinhardshagen Volunteer Fire Department,” said a fire department spokesperson.
“For some of the emergency personnel, it is the first time they have been confronted with death in this way.
“Therefore, a great deal is being done to help us process these images. We will also discuss this among ourselves and within families, because not everyone can easily shake off what they have seen.”
An investigation into the accident is ongoing and is being conducted by the Hofgeismar police station.
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