It will soon be four years since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale aggressive war against Ukraine. According to his initial calculations, this war was supposed to last only two weeks and end with a parade of Russian troops in Kyiv. Instead, the world has witnessed one of the bloodiest wars in modern human history.

The numbers speak for themselves. Russia has already lost about one million of its soldiers killed and wounded. For comparison: during ten years of war in Afghanistan, the Soviet Union lost around 15,000 soldiers. The United States, in eight years of war in Vietnam, lost 58,000. And Russia, in less than four years of war against Ukraine, has lost at least hundreds of thousands of its citizens killed — these are official data from Western intelligence, not to mention the wounded. These losses have created a critical problem for Moscow: their infantry units, which suffer the heaviest casualties, are in desperate need of replenishment.

That is why Putin is doing everything possible to recruit as many soldiers from abroad as he can, mainly from poor countries. One such country sends its troops centrally — according to Ukrainian intelligence, 12,000 North Korean servicemen are currently participating in hostilities on Russia’s side. In other countries, recruits are being enlisted without their governments’ consent, often through deceit. Unfortunately, one of these states is Iraq.

Let me be absolutely clear: Ukraine has never — in any form — recruited Iraqi citizens to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is exclusively a Russian practice that violates international law and the principles of state sovereignty.

We highly appreciate the firm and consistent position of the Government of Iraq, which is actively fighting this criminal recruitment. Iraqi citizens must not fight in foreign conflicts, and all those who involve them in this are criminals and human traffickers. The court ruling in Najaf this September, which sentenced one of the recruiters for the Russian army to life imprisonment, demonstrates the Iraqi state’s determination to protect its citizens from the tragic fate of dying in someone else’s war. Human rights organizations in Iraq are also raising their voices against this crime, pointing out violations of international conventions and principles that defend the sovereignty of Iraq.

We are aware that Russian diplomats and their apologists are trying to portray the situation as if Iraqis are rushing to fight for Russia due to some special sympathy for that country. This is complete nonsense. In reality, young Iraqis — mostly from low-income families — are attracted by something entirely different: promises of quick, high earnings, land, and citizenship in Russia. This is the lie recruiters use to lure naive young men into their nets.

But the reality is far more terrifying. War is always hell. But for an Arab young man from Iraq, this hell is multiplied many times over. First, it is a completely foreign country, foreign rules of behavior, and the Russian army’s hygiene standards, which are unfamiliar and unacceptable for a Muslim. Second, it is a foreign climate — in winter, they must fight in snow, ice, and freezing temperatures, conditions to which a person from Iraq’s hot climate is physically unadapted. And most importantly — and this is the harshest truth — no one is interested in ensuring that this Iraqi young man survives. Russian officers, who do not even care about their own soldiers, deliberately send foreigners to the most dangerous areas, using them as cannon fodder in the deadliest parts of the front.

Thus, by falling for a recruiter’s promises and signing a contract, such a young man is essentially signing his own death sentence. And he immediately becomes needed by no one — not by his own country, which does not even know his fate, nor by Russia, for which he is merely expendable material. He is useful only to Putin — and even then, only briefly, until he dies ingloriously somewhere among the ruins of Ukraine’s east, destroyed by Russian bombs. To die in a distant war that no one needs except Putin.

How many Iraqi families are already mourning their sons who left chasing dreams of a better life, only to find death in a foreign land? How many mothers are still waiting for news from sons who have gone missing? How many more young lives will be sacrificed to the mad ambitions of a single man?

Ukraine calls on the Government of Iraq to continue its determined fight against recruiters, strengthen control over the activities of individuals who may be involved in these crimes, and inform citizens about the real dangers awaiting them in Russia. We also call on Iraqi society, religious leaders, civil organizations, and the media to actively counter this threat, to spread the truth about what truly awaits young Iraqis if they follow this deadly path.

Iraqi youth deserve a peaceful future in their own country, alongside their families. They must not become bargaining chips in someone else’s war. They must not die for the imperial ambitions of the Kremlin. Their lives are far more valuable than any promises made by recruiters.

Together, we must do everything possible to ensure that not a single Iraqi family ever again loses a son in Putin’s meat grinder.

The views expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the position of The New Region's editorial team.