How Kenyans became direct victims of Russia war in Ukraine

Local residents look at a damaged residential building following a drone attack in Kyiv, on October 26, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [AFP] Russia's war against Ukraine is having deadly consequences for Kenyan citizens. The Standard has established that hundreds of young Kenyan men have died on the war frontlines in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine after being duped into joining the conflict as soldiers. As of today, more than 26 Kenyans are recuperating in Russian military hospitals in Moscow and other cities after sustaining injuries on the battlefield. The majority have lost limbs, while others are nursing serious abdominal and other bodily wounds inflicted by drone strikes. The men were lured into travelling to Russia by employment bureaus, some of which are now under investigation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) following the Athi River arrests on September 26. In an intelligence-led operation, detectives from the DCI's Transnational Organised Crime Unit, backed by other security agencies, raided Great Wall Apartments, where 21 Kenyans were found being processed for travel to Russia. The agencies operate under the guise of offering employment opportunities in Russia and other countries, but their victims end up in the hands of Russian military recruiters soon after arriving in St Petersburg. A survivor who escaped the frontlines with the help of the Kenyan embassy in Moscow and has since returned to Nairobi shared a detailed account of his ordeal. The Standard has chosen to protect his identity after learning that the Nairobi-based agencies behind these job syndicates work in collaboration with Russian contacts and have threatened him against speaking out. In WhatsApp messages shared with The Standard, most of the victims said they only gain access to their phones when hospitalised after sustaining injuries in battle. Their communications are desperate pleas for help. All were trapped while searching for employment and have urged their colleague who escaped to raise awareness in Kenya to save their lives. Thousands of Ukrainians attend a rally to demand the release of Ukrainian POWs, still held in Russian captivity in Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 25, 2025. [AFP] "But sema vile ulidanganywa, vile watu wamekufa, vile they lie about taking only former KDF, tell them almost all are civilians with no military training, tell them about Festus, tell them about front line, tell them pesa they made guys sign stuff to make them transfer one million to the agents," one of the men wrote on WhatsApp. From the chats, it appears that more than 100 Kenyans may have been injured on the frontlines in the past four months alone, with deaths numbering in the hundreds. The conscripts also accuse a man named Festus, a Nairobi resident alleged to assist Russian syndicates, of luring unemployed Kenyans with fake job offers before coercing them into joining the war. Strict surveillance in Russian military hospitals, coupled with language barriers, has made it nearly impossible for them to contact the Kenyan embassy in Moscow. They are only allowed to use their phones briefly each day, which is how they manage to send messages via WhatsApp. The Standard is also in possession of copies of visa notification forms issued to five Kenyans forced to serve on the frontlines. Details of the forms, issued at the Russian Embassy in Nairobi, indicate that their visas were single-entry tourist types valid for no more than two months. A visa issued to Reuben Wangari Ndung'u shows he was permitted to stay in Russia from 8 August to 6 October 2025. Ndung'u, who our source says is now on the frontlines, was born on 30 December 1996 and applied for the visa on 4 August 2025. Another Kenyan, Samuel Maina Kariuki, was granted permission to stay in Russia from 11 August to 9 October 2025. According to our source, Kariuki remains on the frontlines. His details show he was born on 20 September 1994. For David Kuloba Shitanda, his visa permitted entry from 8 July to 5 September 2025. Born on 10 January 2003, he appears to be the youngest among them. Jobick Orima Otieno was issued a two-month tourist visa from 11 August to 9 October 2025. Born on 18 February 2001. Tariq Ismail Ahmed was issued a visa valid from 11 August 2025 until October 2025. His details show he was born on 12 February 2000. All five men are currently serving on the frontlines of Russia's war against Ukraine. These revelations, along with last month's arrest and arraignment of a man suspected of operating employment agencies involved in the scam - Edward Gituku - and the exit of Russian national Mikhail Lyapin, have shed light on previously unknown networks targeting Kenyans as conscripts in the Russian war effort. A simple online search for "Africans in the Russia-Ukraine war" yields dozens of tragic accounts of youths lured to Russia with false promises of employment or scholarships. Closer to home, 21 men who had been housed in Kitengela while awaiting transit to Russia claimed that a monthly salary of at least Sh250,000 had been dangled to them as bait to leave the country. Following Gituku's arrest, police said two Kenyans had recently returned from Russia, with one currently admitted at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Police sources indicated that the operation occurred just hours before several victims were scheduled to depart for Russia.

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