The war between Russia and Ukraine, which has been ongoing for the past four years, has had a negative ripple effect in Africa in the form of controversial involvement of African nationals, who have somehow made their way to the front lines of military operations.
As far as the recruitment of African nationals to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war is concerned, Kenya has arguably been the hardest hit, with hundreds of desperate individuals getting enlisted into the foreign militaries through complex networks. After the plight of Kenyans and other Africans fighting abroad blew up in the media, one question lingered: What is the government’s part in ensuring the welfare of its citizens?
To answer this, it is worth understanding the elaborate recruitment schemes, and all the players in the intermediary stages of a Kenyan who went from being an ordinary citizen back at home, to a semi-trained soldier putting his life on the line for a foreign country with the hopes of a hefty payout.
Data from the Kenyan government , alongside intelligence briefings and parliamentary reports, indicate the number of Kenyans recruited to fight in Russia to be 250. This, however, does not tell the whole story, as the figure largely fails to account for other Kenyans recruited whilst abroad or via other informal means.
With this in mind, unconfirmed reports indicate that the number could well be over 1000.
If government figures are anything to go by, at least three Kenyans have been confirmed to have died from the war as of April 2026, while 16 are presumed dead since they are missing in action. 38 have since been hospitalised in Russia, while around 165 are still actively fighting in the Russia war.
Recruitment Through Rogue Agencies
As mentioned earlier, recruitment of Kenyans to fight in Russia is not a straightforward process. Incidentally, however, it is not complex either, as investigations by Kenyan authorities and other international media have pointed to a system that is largely driven by private intermediaries.
These intermediaries operate though rogue labour agencies and individual brokers, who target unemployed men with promises of overseas work in the informal sector including security jobs, driving positions and at times, technical jobs.
The recruits, in many cases, are incentivised with upfront payments and in other cases, salary promises which exceed their local earnings. According to the BBC, some recruits have been enticed with figures of up to $7,000 (about £5,250) as initial incentives, combined with monthly salaries by the recruitment agencies.
With these kinds of perks, it is almost impossible for a desperate, unemployed or underemployed Kenyan to say no. However, intelligence findings presented in the Kenyan parliament have alleged that many of these recruitment networks used deception, with many of the applicants eventually finding out that not only was the money not as lucrative, they also learnt that they were not signing up for the typical civilian jobs.
For some, they only later came to find out that they had been contracted into military service after their arrival in Russia, at which point it was too late to turn back.
The routes used by recruits have been shifted over time, with applicants initially travelling through Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Once these routes were flagged and scrutiny increased, they turned to other routes through countries like Uganda , South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo to avoid detection.
Part of the reason why many of these operations went on without a hitch was because of coordination failures across migration systems, with the rogue recruitment agencies taking full advantage of weak oversight at multiple stages of the travel process to ensure their ‘clients’ reached their intended destination.
“Get Rich or Die Trying”
While some critics have questioned what could possibly lead an individual to resort to fighting in a foreign war, it has since been established that many of the recruitment agencies typically prey on desperation.
In Kenya, for example, economic conditions remain central to understanding why individuals are attracted to these opportunities.
Youth unemployment, coupled with rising living costs and limited formal employment abroad has created a strong push factor for migration. For many of the youth taking up these so-called opportunities, they do so because it somehow offers a chance to earn income which can be considered life-changing in an African setting.
Because these financial incentives are significant in comparison to local pay, desperate youth adopt a mindset of ‘Get rich or die trying’ while accepting the offers to become soldiers abroad.
Investigations have since revealed that recruiters specifically target economically vulnerable groups like former soldiers, ex police officers and unemployed youth. These three groups form the most susceptible to being coerced to join the war.
Training and Deployment
Upon arrival in Russia, recruits undergo processing and short training periods, most of which are not comprehensive enough to establish competency, before deployment into the field.
Individual accounts from returnees and families have described the training environments, which are extremely fast paced and highly controlled, with language barriers often emerging as a significant issue since many of the recruits do not speak Russian.
Further, recruits are often restricted in movement, with some of them being deployed to high-intensity combat areas with limited preparation. One soldier admitted to The Guardian that he “did not know how to shoot”, yet he was among the front-liners in the war.
The Kenyan government, through Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, has since confirmed several hospitalisations of Kenyan nationals and other African nationalities in Russian hospitals, suggesting multiple injuries either in training or active combat.
More worryingly, with an increasing number of missing or unaccounted for individuals, some families are expecting the worst.
How the Kenyan Government Responded
After the storm that was the recruitment scandal, the Kenyan government publicly acknowledged the issue and decided to take a diplomatic approach to it.
In March, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who doubles up as the Foreign Affairs CS, confirmed ongoing consular engagement with Russian authorities and data tracking of affected citizens. Mudavadi also led negotiations aimed at improving cooperation on citizen protection.
Part of the Kenyan government’s action revolved around tracking missing and deployed nationals, facilitating limited returns for Kenyans who wanted out and investigating the recruitment networks within Kenya.
While the Foreign Affairs docket has largely taken the lead in repatriating Kenyans and following up on their welfare in Russia, critics have noted that President William Ruto has remained largely silent on the issue.
There has been little in the way of a comprehensive statement from the President’s office, raising questions about the Head of State’s position on the growing trend of rogue recruitment of Kenyan nationals to fight in foreign conflicts.
Another concern raised by the international community is whether the Kenyan government is downplaying the number of its citizens involved in the active war. While government figures suggest at least 252 Kenyans have been recruited, more families are coming forward to lament on their missing children who went to work abroad, only to be added to the Russian military roaster.
With well over 1000 Africans involved in the war, there is a chance there are more unaccounted for Kenyans in Russia, contrary to the Kenyan government’s official figures.
Demand for Accountability
In Kenya, families of recruits have been up in arms, demanding answers , with their concerns revolving around the confirmation of whether their kin are dead or alive and repatriation of bodies from conflict zones.
Families of victims are also pushing the government to gain oversight of the recruitment networks for accountability, arguing that consent was compromised due to some form of deception or lack of full information on what their kin were getting themselves into.
With missing persons cases standing at 16 as of April 2026, some families are currently subjected to emotional distress over the uncertainty of their loved ones.
An Emerging Pattern – Which Other African Countries Are Affected?
While Kenya has stolen the spotlight in the controversial recruitment into active war zones, it is not the only African country involved. A worrying report indicates that more than 36 African countries are involved in the rogue recruitment in one way or the other.
The most affected countries include Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, with Ukraine estimating that more than 1700 Africans are currently fighting alongside Russian forces.
With these figures in mind, a larger concern has emerged, including the fact that there is an expanding transnational recruitment network, making it harder for government to track the rogue operations.
The Legal Loophole. Is Recruitment into the Millitary Warranted?
In the wake of the recruitment scandal, a legal conundrum has presented itself before the world; whether the recruitment of foreign nationals into active war zones is actually legal.
The Russian government, in March 2026, was categorical, stating that foreign nationals are allowed to voluntarily enlist in its armed forces under Russian law. It, however, denied any involvement in illegal recruitment practices or coercion of individuals for that matter.
Despite these assurances, international observers and Kenyan authorities have raised concerns about whether informed consent exists in many of these cases, especially after videos emerged online suggesting some recruits did not want to be in active military combat.
It is worth noting that under international conventions on mercenary activity, participation in armed conflict for private gain without being a national or official member of the conflict party can fall into prohibited categories, depending on the conditions of recruitment.
What this effectively means, , is that even if Russia allows foreign nationals to participate in the war, if the recruitment was done through the ‘back door’, it could constitute an illegality.
On the question of whether intermediaries involved in recruitment operated as unlicensed labour recruiters, where there is proof of deception, cases may fall under human trafficking, rather than voluntary migration.
Despite Russia maintaining that foreign fighters join voluntarily and under legal contracts, multiple investigative reports contradict this narrative.
A report cited by the British International Studies Institute found that Russia targeted the ‘economicaly vulnerable’. Further, there was an aspect of deception, with a large chunk of recruits expecting to be going for formal jobs, only to be handed a gun and told to go to war. International human rights groups have also accused Russia of using Africans as part of a wider strategy to supplement manpower shortages during prolonged conflict.
The Way Forward
As far as Kenya is concerned, the country has cut the cord on recruiting its nationals to the Russia war. However, the country has not severed relations with Russia. Instead, recent diplomatic engagements have suggested a shift towards a more formalized and transparent cooperation.
Prime CS Musalia Mudavadi has since held engagements with Russia over a possible cooperation on trade and investment, while also advancing discussions on structured labour mobility, energy collaboration, and technology partnerships.
On Friday, April 17, Mudavadi noted that part of the engagement focused on the welfare of Kenyan nationals affected by the conflict in Ukraine, with both sides agreeing to sustain close cooperation on consular support and protection.
While the talks have been largely positive, there are still a multitude of unanswered questions on what tangible courses of actions the Kenyan government, and other African governments at large, are doing to completely curb what is being referred to by human rights groups as ‘modern day slavery’.
Despite some repatriations, there are still more Kenyans actively fighting in the war. Further, since some of the recruits have made their way to Russia through third party countries, accounting for them is practically impossible, making it quite easy for them to disappear under the radar in the very likely event that they are killed in the battlefield.
Needless to say, the talks signal Kenya’s intentions to maintain diplomatic and economic ties with Russia, which could benefit both countries in the long term.
