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