Cuba categorically rejects US claims it is participating in the Ukraine conflict

Statement by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, translated from the Spanish

The Government of the Republic of Cuba rejects the mendacious allegations being spread by the United States government concerning the alleged involvement of Cuba in the military conflict in Ukraine. This is a slanderous accusation first made in 2023 by certain media outlets without offering any evidence or substantiation of any kind, and clearly serving an ulterior purpose.

The Cuban Government reaffirms categorically that Cuba is not involved in the armed conflict in Ukraine and does not have military personnel there or in any other nation.

Our authorities have no precise information regarding Cuban nationals who, on their own initiative, have participated or are participating in the military forces of either side of the conflict. What is indisputable is that none of them acts with the encouragement, commitment, or consent of the Cuban State.

In accordance with its national legislation and international obligations, the Cuban Government maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward mercenarism, human trafficking, and the participation of its nationals in any armed confrontation in another country—all of which constitute serious crimes subject to severe penalties under national law.

As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared in a statement on September 4, 2023, after discovering the involvement of Cubans in the Ukraine conflict, measures were implemented to halt recruitment within the country, and criminal proceedings were initiated accordingly.

Between 2023 and 2025, Cuban courts have conducted nine criminal proceedings for the offense of mercenarism, involving forty defendants. In eight of these cases, trials have been held, and in five, guilty verdicts were handed down against twenty-six defendants, with sentences ranging from five to fourteen years of imprisonment. Three cases await the court’s judgment, and one case is pending trial.

Cubans participating on both sides of the armed conflict have been recruited through organizations not based in our country and having no connection whatsoever with the Cuban Government. In the vast majority of cases, this recruitment has been carried out abroad among Cuban nationals residing or temporarily staying in various countries, just as recruitment for that conflict has taken place among people of many other nationalities, the numbers of which remain imprecise.

The United States Government has not provided and will not be able to offer a single piece of evidence to support its baseless and mendacious accusations in this new defamatory campaign against Cuba.

Havana, October 11, 2025

This work was translated and shared via a License CC-BY-NC