Evening Brief: South Africa Arrests Russia Recruiters as Protests Rage in Germany and Drones Hit Ukraine

South Africa Busts Alleged Russia Recruitment Ring

The Hawks just grabbed a fifth suspect tied to recruiting South Africans for Russia’s war in Ukraine. Pretoria is signaling that unauthorized foreign fighting can land you in court at home and strip protections if you are captured abroad.

South African authorities arrested a fifth suspect on 29 November 2025 in a Hawks investigation into the alleged recruitment of citizens for Russian service in Ukraine. The arrests sit alongside a separate scandal involving 17 South African men who say they were lured to Russia with promises of security jobs or paramilitary training, then pushed into combat roles in the Donbas. Their distress calls surfaced in early November and prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to order a probe into how they were recruited.

Reuters and The Guardian report that the recruitment trail runs through Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former president Jacob Zuma and, until her resignation on 28 November, an MK Party MP. Her half sister, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube, filed a police complaint accusing Zuma-Sambudla and two associates of fraud, human trafficking, and illegal military recruitment connected to the 17 men. Zuma-Sambudla denies wrongdoing, says she was also deceived, and has pledged to cooperate with investigators.

The arrests are being pursued under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1998. The RFMAA bans South African citizens and residents from providing foreign military assistance or taking part in foreign conflicts without approval from the National Conventional Arms Control Committee. Violations can bring fines, prison time, or both. Recruiters usually take the hardest hit, but recruits who claim they were tricked may still face charges, with sentencing left to the court.

Russia’s need for manpower has driven a wider foreign recruitment push. Credible reporting describes Moscow offering cash bonuses and residency incentives, and using contract bait and switch to pull in foreigners from Africa and elsewhere. Ukraine also relies on foreigners through its International Legion, but that route involves formal enlistment into Ukraine’s armed forces, which is legally distinct from mercenary work.

Battlefield risk is just as ugly. Lawful combatants get prisoner of war status if captured. Mercenaries do not. Russia regularly labels Ukraine’s foreign volunteers as mercenaries and threatens criminal trials instead of POW treatment. Ukraine could respond the same way. So anyone signing on through an unofficial pipeline risks becoming a defendant in two countries.

Bottom line: Pretoria is tightening the vise on recruiters. For anyone tempted by a shiny foreign contract, read the fine print and the statute. If the deal sounds like easy money, it may come with a cell door at the end of it.

WATCH | Security Analyst Willem Else says DIRCO will have to pull out all the stops to ensure the safe return of the 17 South Africans allegedly lured to fight as mercenaries in the Russia-Ukraine conflict under the pretence that they were going to receive security training. pic.twitter.com/4IFNoJ3F60

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— SABC News (@SABCNews) November 24, 2025

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Germany Erupts as AfD Unveils New Youth Wing A far-right German political party held a meeting in Giessen on November 29 to start a new club for its younger members. Tens of thousands of Germans showed up to protest the party, blocked roads, delayed the meeting, and police used water cannons and pepper spray after some clashes. Germany’s Alternative for Germany party, known as AfD, met in the city of Giessen in the state of Hesse to launch “Generation Germany” (German name: Generation Deutschland). This is a new youth group inside the party for members up to age 35. AfD leaders say the goal is to train and organize younger supporters under closer supervision from the main party. The meeting did not start on time. Protesters blocked access routes to the conference hall, pushing the opening back by more than two hours. Police called in about 5,000 officers, plus water cannon teams and air support, to keep the event running. City officials warned in advance that Giessen would be under major strain for the weekend, and they were not kidding. Authorities estimated more than 25,000 protesters in the city. Protest organizers claimed higher numbers, but the police count is the hard one to print. The crowd included anti-fascist groups, unions, church groups, and left-wing parties. Most of the demonstrations were peaceful, but some protesters threw objects such as stones at police lines. Police responded with pepper spray and water cannons to clear blockades and push people back. At least ten officers were slightly injured. German media also reported about a dozen protesters receiving medical treatment. There were no confirmed reports of deaths or life-threatening injuries. Generation Germany replaces the AfD’s former youth organization, the Young Alternative (Junge Alternative). AfD dissolved that group in March 2025 after Germany’s domestic intelligence service classified it as a confirmed right wing extremist organization. AfD says the new group will be tighter to the party structure and less of a public relations grenade. At the Giessen meeting, Berlin state lawmaker Jean Pascal Hohm, 28, was elected leader of the new youth group. Hohm has a history in the old youth wing and has been labeled an extremist figure by state intelligence in Brandenburg, something he rejects. AfD co leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla attended the event and defended the party against accusations of extremism. Weidel called the protests undemocratic. This showdown lands in a Germany that is getting more politically split by the month. AfD is now the largest opposition party in parliament and polls above 20 percent nationally, driven mainly by anger over immigration and frustration with establishment parties. Giessen shows that as AfD grows, so does the street level pushback. Bottom line. AfD is trying to rebuild its youth pipeline after the last one got tagged extremist. A lot of Germans are making it clear they plan to fight that effort in the streets, not just at the ballot box. VIDEO: The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) founded its new youth wing “Generation Deutschland” in the face of noisy protests that delayed its meeting by more than two hours pic.twitter.com/1kuEcVgWQ8 — AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 29, 2025 Russia’s Drones Push Ukraine’s Safe Zone Back Russia has taken the lead in the tactical drone fight in late 2025. Cheap midrange drones and jam proof fiber optic FPVs are hammering Ukrainian supply lines 20 to 70 km behind the front, making the “safe rear area” idea about as current as a floppy disk. Ukrainian troops in the Kharkiv sector say Russian strike drones are now hitting convoys more than 20 miles behind the line. The Wall Street Journal describes one case where a Molniya fixed wing drone hit a Ukrainian SUV on a supply road, then a second Molniya finished it off. Front line officers say attacks like this were rare earlier in the year but are now routine. The shift is less about a miracle gadget and more about Russia finally scaling what works. Analysts cited by WSJ say Russian FPV and Lancet style drones outnumber Ukrainian drones in some sectors, with Pokrovsk a prime example. Ukrainian units there report local Russian drone superiority as high as ten to one, pushing Ukraine’s kill zone backward and making daytime vehicle movement a bad life choice. A key player is a Russian drone unit called Rubicon, formed after Ukraine’s 2024 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Rubicon reportedly concentrated top drone pilots, hunted Ukrainian logistics, and used fiber optic FPV drones controlled through a physical cable. That tether makes the drones hard to jam. Ukrainian officers say Rubicon’s playbook in Kursk helped collapse Ukraine’s supply routes and contributed to a retreat in spring 2025. Rubicon then spread those tactics east and trained other Russian teams. Rubicon and copycat units focus on midrange targets, often 12 miles or more beyond the front, and they also target Ukrainian drone crews. ISW and Ukrainian commanders say Russia is now interdicting logistics nodes 40 to 70 km back, effects that used to require manned aircraft. Russia is also using “mothership” tactics. Molniya drones can carry smaller FPV quadcopters and release them deep in the rear. Once the little guys pop loose, they fly the last leg to the target, which is rude, effective, and hard to spot in time. Ukraine is experimenting with similar carrier drones, but Russian scale is the current advantage. On the strategic side, former Ukrainian commander Valeriy Zaluzhnyi warns that secure rear areas are fading and that an undermanned army risks exhaustion if Kyiv cannot regain drone initiative. Ukrainian officers say they need more fiber optic drones and more strikes on Russian drone teams, not just infantry in trenches. Bottom line: drones are turning the supply war into the main event. If Ukraine cannot match Russia’s numbers and midrange reach in 2026, every resupply run will feel like a coin flip. Ukraines long range strike Drones that are currently hitting Russian positions. pic.twitter.com/A1uLQceUSL — Bricktop_NAFO (@Bricktop_NAFO) November 30, 2025 — ** Editor’s Note: Thinking about subscribing to SOFREP? You can do it now for only $1 for your first year. Pull the trigger on this amazing offer HERE. – GDM