S.African mercenaries in Ukraine send 'distress calls'

In this handout photograph taken and released by the press service of the 65th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces. [AFP]

The South African government has received pleas from 17 citizens who had joined mercenary forces fighting in Ukraine's war-ravaged Donbas region to help bring them home, the presidency said Thursday.

The war that started with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has drawn in mercenaries on both sides, including from several African countries.

The government had "received distress calls for assistance to return home from seventeen (17) South African men, between the ages of 20-39 years, who are trapped in the war-torn Donbas," the presidency said.

The statement did not make clear for which side the men were fighting.

The men were "lured to join mercenary forces involved in the Ukraine-Russia war under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts," it said.

Donbas, a largely industrial region in eastern Ukraine bordering Russia, is a key battleground in the war, with forces from both armies operating there.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an investigation into the recruitment of South African men as mercenaries, the presidency said.

It is illegal for South Africans to join foreign armies unless authorised by the government.

The Russian defence ministry reportedly claimed in March last year that at least 14 South African mercenaries had been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war. The claim could not be independently confirmed.