Report: Young Cubans Are Being Lured to Russia for Work and Forced to Fight in Ukraine Instead

An anonymous Russian army officer has reported the presence of entire battalions comprising mainly Cubans and Serbians fighting alongside Russia in Ukraine. This revelation comes in the wake of recent news regarding young Cubans in the island who were misled into believing they were signing up for construction work, only to find themselves sent to fight for Russia.

The soldier told The Moscow Times that it was surprising to find “only Cubans and Serbians” who speak little or no Russian in these units deployed by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

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Commentary: 10 Realities of Ukraine

skyline of Kyiv, Ukraine

One. Reassuring an enemy what one will not do ensures that the enemy will do just that and more. Unpredictability and occasional enigmatic silence bolster deterrence. But Joe Biden’s predictable reassurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will show restraint means Putin likely will not. 

Two. No-fly zones don’t work in a big-power, symmetrical standoff. In a cost-benefit analysis, they are not worth the risk of shooting down the planes of a nuclear power. They usually do little to stop planes outside of such zones shooting missiles into them. Sending long-range, high-altitude anti-aircraft batteries to Ukraine to deny Russian air superiority is a far better way of regaining air parity.

Three. Europe, NATO members, and Germany in particular have de facto admitted that their past decades of shutting down nuclear plants, coal mines, and oil and gas fields have left Europe at the mercy of Russia. They are promising to rearm and meet their promised military contributions. By their actions, they are admitting that their critics, the United States in particular, were right, and they were dangerously wrong in empowering Putin.

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