Ukrainian military personnel have captured an Indonesian citizen fighting on the side of the Russian occupation army for the first time. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing The Guardian and the "I Want to Live" project. According to available data, the 49-year-old native of Java Island was brought to the Zaporizhzhia region to participate in assault operations as part of Russian forces. After his unit came under a Ukrainian drone strike, the man independently reached government-controlled Ukrainian territory, where he was detained by Ukrainian defenders.
How the Indonesian Ended Up in the Russian Army
According to the "I Want to Live" project, cited by The Guardian, the captive is 49-year-old Sukamto Ayok. He joined the Russian army after a former classmate offered him construction work in Russia. According to the publication's sources, the friend acted on behalf of a man named Alexander, who was involved in transporting Indonesians to Moscow. In July, Sukamto flew to Russia with another foreigner, was accommodated in a Moscow apartment with two Russians, and was offered to sign a one-year construction contract, which in reality turned out to be a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to the project, Ayok found out about this only in a bus traveling from Moscow to occupied Donetsk. An attempt to escape along with another Indonesian citizen failed: the servicemen were detained, and an identification number was tattooed on the captive's chest. Sukamto and other recruited foreigners, according to "I Want to Live", were sent to an assault brigade without training.
The Scale of Recruitment: Growth of Almost 30 Times
According to information from the "I Want to Live" project, in the first nine months of 2026, Russia recruited about 283 Indonesian citizens for the war against Ukraine. For comparison: over the previous three years, no more than a dozen such cases were recorded. Thus, the pace of Indonesian recruitment, according to Ukrainian sources, has grown almost 30-fold. The situation gained widespread publicity following reports of the death in October of an Indonesian serving in the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces.
Jakarta's Reaction
In connection with the increasing cases of recruitment, the Indonesian authorities officially appealed to Moscow demanding an end to the practice of involving their citizens in military service. Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yvonne Mewengkang emphasized that the government urged the Russian side to take all necessary measures to avoid recruiting Indonesians into the army or other positions related to military activity.
Human Trafficking Network
Indonesian law enforcement agencies reported the exposure of a large-scale human trafficking network. According to them, criminals actively recruited citizens via social networks and messengers, offering them high-paying jobs in logistics, border security, and defense construction. However, upon arrival in Russia, people were deceitfully forced to sign mercenary contracts and sent directly to combat zones.
Context: Mercenaries in Assault Operations
As Ukrainian sources remind, Russian troops involve recruited mercenaries from African and Asian countries in assault operations in the Huliapole direction. Earlier, African prisoners of war appealed to the participants of the Russia-Africa summit with a call to influence the authorities of the aggressor country so they could return home. The capture of the Indonesian mercenary is a new confirmation that the recruitment of foreigners into the Russian army is systemic and affects an increasingly wide range of countries.
