"Dennis worked as a security officer in Qatar when recruiters approached him with what appeared to be a better offer. But his family says he never knew what the job really was. His brother, Alfred Morara, said the news had shattered the family. "They were not told which job they wanted to do. They were taken to Russia." Morara said. "He was recruited as a foreign soldier in Russia.""
"32-year-old Oscar Agola Ojiambo vanished shortly after joining the Russian army last June. Months later, his family is still waiting for answers and for his body. "The commanders at the war front revealed that my son died on 14 August 2025," says Charles Ojiambo Mutoka, Oscar's father. "That revelation came in January this year, but the Russian government has not disclosed it to next of kin." For families like the Ombworis and the Ogollas, hope is slipping away."
Families in Kisii County and Nairobi mourn Kenyans who joined the Russian military and were killed or disappeared during the Russia–Ukraine war. Recruiters reportedly lured workers abroad with false job offers, taking some to Russia where they were enlisted as foreign soldiers. An intelligence report estimates more than 1,000 Kenyans are currently fighting in Ukraine, with 89 on the frontline, 39 hospitalized, 28 missing, and at least 30 repatriated since December. The government says it is working to identify and repatriate nationals, while families await confirmation, bodies, and clearer information about battlefield conditions.
Read at www.npr.org
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]