African men desperate for work are being deceived, coerced and pushed onto the front lines of Russia’s war in Ukraine, with many left dead, wounded or missing, according to harrowing accounts from victims and families.
Tears stream down Anne Ndarua’s face whenever she speaks about her only son.
Six months ago, Francis Ndung’u Ndarua, a 35-year-old Kenyan, left home for Russia after being promised a decent job as an electrical engineer. Today, his mother no longer knows whether he is alive.
Anne says she last heard directly from Francis in October. Since then, silence — broken only by chilling videos that have since gone viral and exposed what many African families now describe as a deadly trap set by Russian recruiters.
CNN report that in December, an unknown Kenyan number sent Anne a video of her son pleading with fellow Africans not to travel to Russia for job opportunities. In the footage, Francis warns that job seekers are being forcibly drafted into the Russian military and sent straight to the battlefield in Ukraine.
“You’ll end up being taken to the military even if you’ve never served in the military, and you’re taken to the frontline battle. And there are true killings,” he says in the video, sent from an unknown Kenyan number. “Many friends have died in the name of money.
About a week later, an even more disturbing clip surfaced online. In it, Francis appears in military uniform with what looks like a landmine strapped to his chest.
He looks terrified as a Russian-speaking man hurls racist slurs, declaring that Francis will be used as a “can-opener” to break through Ukrainian positions.
“It’s so traumatising,” Anne told CNN, explaining that she could not bring herself to watch the video after her daughter described it to her. She said agreeing to speak publicly was a desperate attempt to force action from both Nairobi and Moscow.
“I’m appealing to the Kenyan and Russian governments to work together to bring those children home,” she said. “They lied to them about real jobs and now they’re in war with their lives in danger.”
Before leaving Kenya, Francis was unemployed and living with his mother in a small community outside Nairobi. Anne said he paid about $620 to a local agent who promised to secure him legitimate employment in Russia.
She was shocked when Francis later told the family that he was being forced into military training shortly after arrival.
According to Anne, after just three weeks of basic training, her son was deployed to the front lines in Ukraine.
A CNN investigation has uncovered widespread recruitment of African men by Russian-linked agents, who lure job seekers with promises of civilian work, high pay, and citizenship — only for many to end up conscripted into one of the bloodiest conflicts of the modern era.
CNN reviewed hundreds of chat messages, military contracts, visas, flights and hotel records, and conducted interviews with African fighters and returnees.
The findings paint a grim picture: deception, coercion, unpaid wages, racism, and near-certain death.
Exact figures remain unclear, but several African governments — including Kenya, Uganda, South Africa and Botswana — have acknowledged that dozens, possibly hundreds, of their citizens have been drawn into Russia’s war effort.
Local media across the continent have reported similar stories of young men duped into becoming mercenaries. Governments have since issued warnings, urging citizens not to accept suspicious job offers tied to Russia.
Russia’s Defense and Foreign Ministries did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment. The Russian embassy in Nairobi also declined to comment.
CNN spoke with 12 African fighters still trapped in Ukraine, from Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. All said they were initially offered civilian roles such as drivers, factory workers, security guards or technicians.
They were promised signing bonuses of up to $13,000, monthly salaries as high as $3,500, and Russian citizenship upon completion of service.
Instead, upon arrival in Russia, they say they were forced into the military, rushed through minimal training, and sent to active combat zones.
Many were compelled to sign contracts written only in Russian, without legal counsel or translation. Several reported having their passports seized.
Despite Russian law requiring foreign recruits to understand the language, none of the Africans interviewed spoke Russian.
Salaries and bonuses often failed to materialise. Some fighters accused recruiters or Russian colleagues of stealing money directly from their bank accounts.
“One Russian soldier forced me at gunpoint to give him my bank card and PIN,” one African fighter told CNN anonymously. “Nearly $15,000 was withdrawn. I’ve been here seven months, and I haven’t been paid a single cent.”
He added that four men who arrived in Russia with him have since died.
Documents reviewed by CNN show that the Russian military contracts are far more binding than advertised.
They impose open-ended combat obligations, loyalty requirements, and even financial penalties for leaving. Clauses allow the state to restrict travel, confiscate passports, and impose lifelong secrecy obligations.
Promises of civilian retraining or job placement, often highlighted by recruiters, are only available after at least five years of service — and only under specific discharge conditions.
On social media, a very different narrative is aggressively pushed.
In one widely shared video, a Nigerian man in Russian military uniform urges Africans to join, describing the process as “very, very easy and very good, no stress.” Other videos circulate in Igbo, Swahili, Twi and Pidgin English, targeting specific communities.
Ghanaian soldier Kwabena Ballo, also in uniform, boasts on TikTok: “My salary can feed your father, mother and whole family for two or three years.”
But nearly all the African fighters interviewed by CNN say the reality is hellish.
They describe constant exposure to danger, racial abuse from commanders, unpaid wages, and bodies of fellow Africans left on the battlefield for months. Some spoke of colleagues losing limbs without compensation, while enduring relentless psychological torment.
“The war here is very hot, and many people are dying on both sides,” said the only African fighter who told CNN he planned to finish his contract. “This was not what these guys expected.”
Despite this, Russia continues to showcase African recruits on state television, framing them as honored volunteers. Lawmakers publicly congratulate them, and citizenship ceremonies are broadcast as proof of Russia’s supposed inclusiveness.
Patrick Kwoba, a 39-year-old Kenyan carpenter, believed the propaganda. After seeing an African friend in the Russian army living well on social media, he paid an agent $620 and was promised a $23,000 signing bonus.
“I thought I was going to be a security guard, not a combatant,” Kwoba said in Nairobi, after managing to escape.
He described his four months in Ukraine as “hell.” After only three weeks of training, he was sent to the front. He was later injured in a Ukrainian drone and grenade attack.
“When I asked for first aid using the code ‘3-star,’ my Russian partner chased me away and started shooting at me,” he said.
Kwoba eventually escaped during recovery leave in St. Petersburg, reaching the Kenyan embassy in Moscow. With the help of embassy staff, he boarded a flight home using temporary travel documents.
“So long as you’ve stepped in the Russian military, you escape or you die,” he said. “If you finish your contract, they still force you to stay.”
Kwoba still requires surgery to remove shrapnel from his body. He considers himself fortunate to be alive.
Another returnee, Kenyan photographer Charles Njoki, 32, applied directly through a Russian army recruitment portal, hoping to earn money to support his pregnant wife.
He sold his car to finance the trip and arrived in Russia within a week. While he was in training, his wife miscarried — news he only learned days later because recruits’ phones had been confiscated.
Njoki was injured in a drone attack and now suffers from permanent damage to his hand and spine. He claims African fighters were deliberately used as bait.
“They tell you that you’ll guard places, not fight,” he said. “But you end up on the front line.”