Kenya has claimed that more than 200 of its citizens fought for Russia against Ukraine. They were promised up to $18 000 to cover visa, travel, and accommodation costs.
This was stated by Kenyan Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi, reports the BBC.
Mudavadi said the mercenaries included former Kenyan security forces. Some of the rescued citizens said they were forced to assemble drones and work with chemicals without proper training or protective equipment.
The Kenyan Embassy in Moscow also recorded several wounded mercenaries.
Kenyan President William Ruto, during a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky on November 6, asked him to help release captive Kenyan citizens recruited by Russia for the war.
And on November 7, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha stated that almost 1 436 citizens from 36 African countries are fighting on the side of Russia.
Russian mercenaries from other countries
In the full-scale war against Ukraine, mercenaries from at least 48 countries are fighting on Russiaʼs side. In Moscow alone, more than 1 500 foreigners could be recruited into the Russian army from April 2023 to May 2024.
Currently, there are established facts of recruitment of citizens of Nepal and Somalia into the Russian army. The Russian Federation also recruited illegal migrants from the Finnish border into its army who were trying to get to the EU through Russia.
As for citizens of Nepal and India, some of them are already in captivity or have died. There are already videos on social networks with Africans as part of the Russian occupation forces in Ukraine.
The Kremlin also cooperates with the North Korean army — its soldiers are involved in fighting in the Kursk region.
In September 2023, a scheme to recruit mercenaries for the war in Ukraine on the side of the occupiers was exposed in Cuba.
In April 2025, Volodymyr Zelensky said that two Chinese citizens who fought as part of the Russian army were captured in the Donetsk region.
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