{"id":1666582,"date":"2026-02-26T11:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1666582"},"modified":"2026-02-26T11:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:55:00","slug":"south-africa-expresses-heartfelt-gratitude-for-putin-returning-17-citizens-trapped-in-warzone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/south-africa-expresses-heartfelt-gratitude-for-putin-returning-17-citizens-trapped-in-warzone\/1666582\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa Expresses ‘Heartfelt Gratitude’ For Putin Returning 17 Citizens Trapped In Warzone"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa Expresses ‘Heartfelt Gratitude’ For Putin Returning 17 Citizens Trapped In Warzone<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

BRICS allies Russia and South Africa are taking steps to heal tensions related to the Ukraine war and allegations that groups of South African men were ‘lured’ to fight on behalf of Moscow.<\/p>\n

Last December, a Reuters\u00a0<\/em>investigation documented that\u00a0South Africans were being recruited into the Russian armed forces under false pretenses. People were allegedly promised high-level jobs and elite training in Russia<\/strong>, only to find out they unwittingly joined the Russian military, and eventually\u00a0found themselves fighting in Ukraine soon after documents were hastily signed<\/strong>. In these cases the implication is that these South African individuals are in\u00a0desperate financial straits<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Presidents Putin and Cyril Ramaphosa, via TASS.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The South African government had first confirmed in November its officials had received “distress calls” from 17 men who were trapped on the front line<\/strong> in Ukraine’s Donbas, after in some instances having mistakenly joined mercenary groups.<\/p>\n

The Reuters<\/em> report<\/a> had said young men were offered training programs in Russia which would lead to high paying jobs like personal security protection. But instead they were\u00a0given low-level positions like trench-diggers or tasked with hauling ammo or high risk logistical endeavors – all while “dodging bullets” according to the report.<\/p>\n

But the saga is coming to a close and with some diplomatic healing as\u00a0Russia has promptly returned the 17 men<\/strong>. South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday issued a statement of “heartfelt gratitude”<\/strong> to President Vladimir Putin for resolving the issue quickly.<\/p>\n

“President Ramaphosa has expressed his heartfelt gratitude to President Vladimir Putin, who responded positively to his call to support the process of returning the men home<\/strong>,” the presidency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“The investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of these young men into mercenary activities is ongoing,” it added.<\/p>\n

According to the latest via Fox<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Four of the men have already returned\u00a0to South Africa, while 11 are expected to arrive soon<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Two remain in Russia \u2014 one receiving treatment at a hospital<\/strong> in Moscow and another being processed before finalizing travel arrangements.<\/em><\/p>\n

The South African government had previously acknowledged that the “process to retrieve those young men remains a very sensitive process” – for which it was giving the highest priority.<\/p>\n

“They are afraid that Russian military or Russian soldiers might kill them.”<\/p>\n

Thulani Mahlangu, a representative of parents of South African mercenaries fighting for Russia, tells @SkyYaldaHakim<\/a> they have no way home if they decide to leave.https:\/\/t.co\/YXMcOOyMkZ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/zXlvbHFbre<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sky News (@SkyNews) December 17, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

The government has also admitted the the reality that\u00a0many South Africans have also traveled to fight for Ukrainian forces<\/strong>. But this has been seen as less of an issue because it was more transparent they were either volunteering or getting paid specifically to fight on behalf of Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 02\/26\/2026 – 06:55<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/south-africa-expresses-heartfelt-gratitude-putin-returning-17-citizens-trapped-warzone<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa Expresses ‘Heartfelt Gratitude’ For Putin Returning 17 Citizens Trapped In Warzone BRICS allies Russia and South Africa are taking steps to heal tensions…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1666583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1666582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1666582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1666582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1666583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1666582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1666582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1666582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}