Ukraine Releases Names of 39 Cubans Killed in the War
while fighting for Russia
HAVANA TIMES – On May 8, 2025, a Telegram channel run by the Ukrainian government published the names of 39 Cuban citizens who died while serving in the Russian military. The release was timed—deliberately—one day before Moscow’s Victory Day parade, where the Kremlin marked the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender to Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov.
The channel, known in Spanish as Quiero vivir (“I Want to Live”), leaked the names of all foreign soldiers killed in action that it had been able to verify. The nationalities listed—Syria, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Serbia, Turkmenistan, and Cuba—correspond to those of some of the heads of state who attended the parade. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel was present at the celebration alongside his wife, Lis Cuesta, who holds no official government position.
“Do the leaders of these countries have the courage to remind Putin that he recruits their citizens with impunity for his war, then forgets them as soon as they die or are captured? Are they willing to defend the lives of their people? Or will they continue to look the other way at what Russia is doing to the inhabitants of their nations?” Quiero Vivir wrote in a statement. The state-sponsored Ukrainian project tracks information on prisoners of war, missing servicemen, and Russian military casualties in Ukraine.
Quiero Vivir has identified over 600 fatalities from the nations mentioned. That figure does not represent the total number of foreign soldiers killed in the invasion, as even the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense lacks precise data. From April 1 through May 2025, Quiero Vivir published the names of 5,204 foreign mercenaries; of those, 1.028 were Cuban, nearly one-fifth of the total.
It’s worth noting that not all leaked soldiers hail from countries in Russia’s geopolitical orbit. Other nations, such as Sri Lanka, have also suffered significant losses.
Cuban Casualties
elTOQUE verified several names and details from the published list, partly because some deaths had already been reported, though without exact death dates. For example, Raibel Palacio Herrera was confirmed to have died on January 12, 2024; young boxer Yansiel Morejón Díaz from Villa Clara died on December 28, 2023. Cross-referencing with local Russian press also matched names like Eduardo Montero Martínez of Cienfuegos.
The oldest soldier on the list was 62-year-old Reinerio Robles, who died in 2024. The youngest, Juan Raúl Pedroso, was 23 when he fell on June 21, 2024.
The list of 39 names is not exhaustive. Investigations by international media and independent outlets indicate additional Cuban deaths that, so far, have not been documented by Quiero Vivir. There are also cases where families chose not to publicize the deaths, so those names are omitted here.
In recent months, elTOQUE’s audience chat has received reports of Cuban soldiers missing in action. We are sharing the full list of those confirmed dead. elTOQUE was unable to verify every detail independently. We reiterate that this is a translation of a third-party compilation.
1 Alexei Aldana Aguilar
2 Raúl Alemán Morales
3 Maikel José Baró García
4 Alfredo Borrero Leyva
5 Alexander S. Bykov
6 Iván Guy Camacho
7 Reinerio Roble Valencia
8 Yismel Dieguez Reyes
9 Reinaldo Izaguirre Cruz
10 Luis Antonio Cabrera Pérez
11 Osmani López Martínez
12 Alejandro López Tamayo
13 Maikel Márquez Llopis
14 Lázaro Rafael Martínez Sánchez
15 Eduardo Montero Martínez
16 Lester Pichardo Mora
17 Yansiel Morejón Díaz
18 Andy Olano Montano
19 Pedro Antonio Ortiz García
20 Camilo Antonio Ochoa de Moreno
21 Raibel Palacio Herrera
22 Juan Raúl Pedroso Barrios
23 Lázaro Aramis Pérez Rodríguez
24 Yoel Alcides Pérez Santiesteban
25 Andruy Pérez Pérez
26 Reumberto Placencia Reyes
27 Isaac Reyes Hinojosa
28 Luis Ángel Rodríguez López
29 Enandis Rodríguez de Los Santos
30 Ismael Sáez Gómez
31 Mario Alberto Céspedes Pérez
32 Ángel Luis Soneira López
33 Lázaro Zúñiga Hernández
34 Barbaro Alberto Tito De la Cruz
35 Jorge Luis Toppe Suárez
36 Jorge Francisco Justo Núñez
37 Cyron Chamiso Franco
38 César Orestes Echavarría Díaz
39 Reinier Pérez Díaz