Kenya's forgotten recruits in Russia’s war against Ukraine, and the efforts to bring them home

Susan Kuloba's son David, left Nairobi with a plan as he went off to Russia. He would work in Russia for a year, save enough, and come home to open a small footwear shop. He had spent years on construction sites in the Kenyan capital, and Russia felt like a way out. He signed a contract he thought to be for a position as a security guard, left for Russia, joined the military, and has not come back. The money promised to him sits in an account in Russia that Susan cannot access. ‘A friend of his informed me that he was receiving the money, but he never withdrew it. I have never received the money,’ she told FairPlanet.

Loise, from Ruiru near Nairobi, also waits. Her son Simon Gititu was an electrician before he disappeared into the same pipeline. She later read in the press that his body was among those recovered. ‘We still don't know the veracity of this information,’ she told FP via phone, ‘because we read about it in the media and social media like everybody else.’

Susan and Loise are part of the human cost of a recruitment network that has drawn more than a thousand Kenyans into Russia's war in Ukraine. These are mostly young men lured by promises of good wages and legitimate work, only to find themselves on one of the world's most dangerous frontlines, where they are unable to leave and beyond the reach of their own government.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, leaving Russia in need of a steady supply of soldiers to sustain its frontlines. According to a January 2026 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Russia has suffered up to 325,000 killed since February 2022.

To fill the gaps, recruiters turned increasingly to Africa, where they targeted young men in countries like Kenya, Uganda, and beyond with promises of well-paying skilled jobs, funneling them into a war they had little context for and no easy way out of. More recruits were sourced from other countries, including North Korea.

Raskin Oyugi of Vocal Africa told FairPlanet that his organisation is working with over 70 affected families. The organisation has written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and petitioned parliament. He described the systemic failure, saying recruitment agencies used fake advertisements to funnel young men toward a war zone, and the state either did not notice or did not act.

What they were promised, and what they found

Kenya's National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that more than 1,000 Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine, misled with promises of skilled employment before being sent to the frontlines. Parliament's Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah, who tabled the report, alleged that Russian embassy officials in Nairobi colluded with rogue recruitment agencies to deceive recruits, who were issued tourist visas for the journey. 

‘Kenyans leave the country on tourist visas to join the Russian Army through Istanbul, Turkey as well as Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates,’ Kimani told parliament. He explained that recruits were travelling through Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and South Africa to avoid detection at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.

‘They have also been colluding with staff at the Russian embassy in Nairobi and the Kenyan embassy in Moscow, who have been issuing the recruits with Russian visit visas,’ he said.

A Kenyan currently serving in the Russian military, who asked not to be named and was reached through Peter Kamau Gitau – an activist whose brother disappeared in the conflict –  described the pay he was promised and what he receives in reality. ‘They promised to pay us a 215,000-rouble (EUR2,479) salary, but they didn't,’ he said. ‘They pay 150,000 roubles (EUR1,729), which is not according to the contract agreement.’ 

Recruits were promised monthly salaries of up to 350,000 Kenyan shillings (EUR2,308), the parliamentary report noted, with bonuses that made the offer hard to refuse - ten times what many could earn at home. What awaited them was military training that, according to Kimani, sometimes lasted as little as nine days before deployment. 

The soldier is blunt about what life on the frontline actually looks like. ‘Bro, no safety. For me, I don't focus on the mission so much because I am my own safety. I better shoot myself where the mission is hard.’ He says Africans are given harder assignments than Russian soldiers. ‘There is a lot - specifically in war - us Africans are given hard tasks compared to Russians.’ He had a warning for other young Kenyans considering the same path: ‘Kenyans, don't come here. Just death is patrolling here. My friends are dead with their money which we came here for. Please don't come. There is no champion in war.’

The man filling the state's absence

Peter Kamau Gitau’s brother Gerald went to Russia in 2025 and has not been heard from. In the vacuum left by the government, Peter has built an informal support network - reaching Kenyans still in Russia via WhatsApp, discouraging new recruits, and facilitating the kind of contact that produced the unnamed soldier’s testimony. He cannot reach those already at the frontlines as communication cuts out, but he can find some of those still in the barracks.

He has petitioned parliament and written to government officials. ‘There has been no response,’ he said. His attempts to locate his own brother have led nowhere. ‘It is practically impossible for me to trace him. This can only be done through the relevant government institutions, which have remained very unhelpful.’ He asks, at minimum, for the return of those who have died. ‘It is not possible, especially in an African setting, for a family to move on before they have conducted a proper and procedural burial. It is in our culture.’

On the government's handling of labour and immigration oversight, he said: ‘They are accomplices in this matter.’

The NIS report alleged collusion involving officials from various government agencies, enabling recruits to leave the country undetected. In February 2026, Festus Arasa Omwamba, director of Global Face Limited, was charged with trafficking 22 Kenyan youths to Russia through deception. 

A diplomatic trip with disputed outcomes

As of 11 March 2026, Kenya's mission in Moscow had identified 252 nationals involved in Russian military operations: 44 repatriated, 10 missing or killed in action, 38 hospitalised under restricted access, and 160 still actively serving. 

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi travelled to Moscow on 16 March and raised the issue with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, calling for a halt to recruitment. Lavrov's response was that all Kenyans had signed their contracts voluntarily and that the contracts contained no repatriation clause. Mudavadi returned, saying Kenya and Russia had agreed to stop further enlistment, and that 600 rogue recruitment agencies had been deregistered. 

As of May 2026, Mudavadi told a Senate committee that the number of verified recruits had risen to 291, with 19 confirmed dead, 32 missing in action, and 53 repatriated, though Kenya's National Intelligence Service puts the total recruited at over 1,000.

Many citizens from other countries in Africa have suffered a similar fate. Ukraine's foreign minister has stated that over 1,700 people from 36 African countries have been recruited to fight for Russia.

Oyugi said of Kenya's diplomatic response: ‘When Mudavadi went to Russia, it's like he never went to talk about the people in Russia or put a stop to the recruitment. It seems like he went to sign a labour deal. That shows that the government has no interest in bringing back its citizens.’

Peter Kamau put it simply. ‘The Kenyan government should know that its citizens are dying in Ukraine. They vowed to protect life and property.’

From somewhere near the frontline, the unnamed soldier’s words carried the same weight with less formality. ‘It's not a movie. You can die.’