Why African women are escaping from Russia's Shahed drone maker Alabuga

 

Production of Shahed kamikaze drones. [Courtesy, Ukraine Military Instagram]

Russia’s trap that has been netting African women in slave-like labour in its Special Economic Zone that lies at least 650 miles southeast of Moscow is turning out to be another problem that Moscow has caused the African continent.

It is emerging that some of the young women duped into working in the war factories have begun to escape, finding their way back to their countries in Africa, The Standard has learnt.

Revelations about women escapees, none of them being Kenyans as yet, serve to increase the tribulations that the continent is suffering in its relations with Russia after hundreds of its sons are reported killed on the Russian war front.

Early this week, in Nairobi, several families that had lost their sons in Russia, led by rights group Vocal Africa, cried out demanding help from the Kenyan government to have the bodies of their dead loved ones brought back home for burial.

In Russia’s protracted conflict with Ukraine, over a hundred young African women, among them at least 24 Kenyans, have been duped into serving in menial jobs in war factories that are based in the Tatarstan Republic of Russia, making Shahed- type drones.

The women were duped into joining through lofty promises, mostly run online by a program called Alabuga Start that promises training opportunities in Russian institutions and jobs in hospitality and other sectors that would pay them at least 50,000 Rubles (Sh 86,000) per month.

A source who once worked for the Alabuga Start recruitment syndicate on the African continent and who requested anonymity told The Standard that the Alabuga Start program has been preying on Ethiopian, Kenyan, Ugandan and South African young women, ensnaring them through promises of educational opportunities and jobs in the hospitality industry.

“For now, I cannot share with you the names of the girls who have escaped, as they are too scared. I know of many participants from East Africa still stuck in Alabuga and at other sites in Russia. Hundreds of girls have been sent to Russia for this program that is supposed to last 2 years, and yet only a few have returned”. Said the source

Rescuers carrying a body out of a residential building heavily damaged during a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Aug 28, 2025. [AFP]

He said after landing in Russia, the young women whose age range between 18 and 24 were herded into forced labour in war factories.

“In my previous role, I was involved in promoting the Alabuga Start program, which preys upon Ethiopian, Kenyan, Ugandan and South African girls” Says the man in a response to our questions. He adds, “It lures them to Russia all the way to Tatarstan with the promise of a well-paying job and education. Instead, these girls are forced into making weapons, harassed and worked to exhaustion”

In Moscow’s expanded strategy of war against Ukraine, it has targeted jobless youth in the Global South using underhanded recruitment methods to get women into labour in war factories making weapons, even as it ensnares African young men into its army to serve as quick disposables on the war front.

According to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) majority of the drones used against Ukraine during the entire year of 2025 had been manufactured in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone.

Throughout the year, there were virtually no days without nighttime and large-scale air attacks by Russian forces using hundreds of Shahed-type Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), combined with ballistic and cruise missile strikes launched from various regions of Russia and occupied territories such as Crimea and Donetsk, said ISIS in its latest report published January 22.

The number of UAVs launched in individual attacks ranged from dozens to over 800.  According to official Ukrainian data, the total number of Shahed-type UAVs launched by Russia in 2025 amounted to 54,538, including approximately 32,200 Shahed-type strike UAVs that were manufactured under the Alabuga Start program.

Notable large-scale attacks included the strike on December 6, 2025, on Ukraine, which involved 653 Shahed-type UAVs. This included more than 300 Shahed and Gerber strike UAVs. The attack on October 30, which also involved 653 Shahed-type UAVs.  The strike on July 9, 2025, using 728 Shahed UAVs and the largest attack on September 7, using 823 air attack vehicles, including 810 Shahed-type UAVs.  All the strikes majorly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and as the cold season of winter arrived, most people have had a rough time heating their houses. The BBC reported Friday morning that in Kyiv alone, nearly 6000 buildings have lacked electricity, making it difficult to heat up houses and offices.

Several publications from mostly European capitals have reported sad cases of some of the women duped into the Alabuga program, finding themselves pushed into sex exploitation

“More than making drones, I can attest that many of these girls are sold into prostitution. I know of a few ones that have escaped and returned home, but many more are trapped in this nightmare,” Said the former Alabuga start recruiter.

The Standard could not independently verify this claim. However, in their reporting on Alabuga last year, British Publications The Sun and MailOnline had elements of these cases in their coverage

On March 16 2025 Mailonline published a story whose kicker read; Inside Russia's living hell’ compound where young African women are lured with promises of a better life only to be subjected to grinding labour, racism and even prostitution.

The story read in part: Trapped in a closed-off zone, in a foreign country, with insufficient funds to leave, it seems that some women are forced into prostitution as their nightmare deepens.

 MailOnline has seen screenshots of a text from a man from the city of Chelny, close to Alabuga, explaining how he ordered a black prostitute to his apartment. She had been forced into prostitution after being fired from Alabuga, she told him.

Further investigation got screenshots of the prostitution services offered by African women in Alabuga itself.  The publication said it could not say for certain that the women were employees at the SEZ. But because of the facility, access to the city is restricted; it is hard to imagine what other African women would possibly be there.

Indeed, many wonder why the start program is only for girls. Representatives from the Alabuga Start program have an answer: that many of the 'professions available require a certain level of feminine attention to detail, reported MailOnline

On 13^th May 2025, The Sun, in a story titled; Alabug, Russia trafficking young Nigerian women to build suicide drones.

In parts of the report, the publication said: The Daily Sun source also said more alarmingly was that the danger has increased as Ukraine has launched its own drones at the factory and surrounding living quarters to disrupt production, most recently attacking the site on April 23, 2025.

“And to make things worse, some girls have been unable to return home, being forced to turn to prostitution.”