Kenya considers it "unacceptable" that its nationals are deceived by promises of well-paid civilian jobs in Russia to then be used as "cannon fodder" by the Russian army, the number 2 in Kenyan diplomacy denounced on Tuesday. A visit to Moscow on this subject is planned.

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 4:39 p.m. Modified on: 02/10/2026 - 4:54 p.m.

Kenyan nationals used as “cannon fodder” for Russia on the front in Ukraine? This is what Kenya denounced on Tuesday February 10, deeming this situation “unacceptable”. The head of Kenyan diplomacy, Musalia Mudavadi, announced a visit to Moscow in March on this subject.

Several media outlets, including AFP, recently showed how hundreds of Kenyan men, often without any military background, found themselves, once arriving in Russia, forced to sign a contract with the Russian army to very quickly be sent to the front in Ukraine, where many of them perished.

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“There seems to be a pattern of luring people and making them die,” lamented Abraham Korir Sing'Oei. The No. 2 of the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs also spoke of an "intentional program aimed at illegally recruiting people of African descent, of which Kenyans are a part, and making them, as it were, fighters in a world of which they are not a part."

During an investigation published on Monday, AFP was able to speak to four Kenyans returning from Russia, three of whom were injured. One left there thinking he would become a salesman, two other security agents, the fourth a high-level athlete.

Forced to sign a contract binding them to the Russian army written in Cyrillic

All were promised salaries of between 920 and 2,400 euros per month in Russia. A fortune in Kenya, where many workers earn barely 100 euros per month.

The day of their arrival or the next day, however, the four men found themselves forced to sign a contract binding them to the Russian army written in Cyrillic, which they did not understand. Then they were sent to the front, after very little or no military training, in Ukrainian territory.

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Three of them found themselves in the same place several weeks apart, near Vovchansk, in the Kharkiv region, where a large field, which they had to cross, was covered with corpses. Two of them saw almost their entire unit, including Kenyans and other African nationals, die in a few minutes, under fire from Ukrainian drones.

“What emerges is that these individuals are being used as cannon fodder on the front,” accused Abraham Korir Sing’Oei, interviewed by telephone by AFP, who described the situation as “painful, disturbing, shocking”. “In modern times, this is totally unacceptable,” he said, adding that the issue had been raised by Kenya with Russia in Nairobi and Moscow.

With AFP

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