- A Kenyan man has told how he was tricked into entering the war by a friend who convinced him that Russia was looking for basketball players
- He signed documents written in Russian, not knowing it was a military registration, and when he refused, officers shot four people in front of him as a warning.
- “I was lied to. I wanted to change my history, but now I have messed up the whole history,” he cried more in the sad video
A Kenyan man has spoken publicly for the first time about what he describes as “hell” after being lured to Russia on false promises and forced to fight in the country’s war Ukraine.
Source: Youtube
Interviewed on BBC’s Focus on Africa, the visibly shaken man wore a mask to hide his identity. Her hands were tightly folded, and her voice trembled as she recounted a journey that began with hope and ended in trauma.
How a Kenyan ended up in Russia
He said he paid more than KSh 150,000 after his friend promised him a sports-related job abroad. The athlete believed he had the opportunity to play basketball in Russia.
“Before going to Russia, I was an active athlete since childhood,” he said.
“My friend told me that Russia was recruiting a sports team. He even showed me the list of recruitsof others.”
Instead of basketball courts, he found himself in St. Petersburg. Unable to read Russian, he signed a document believing it to be a basketball contract, only to find out later that it was a military draft.
Within a day of his arrival, he was transported to a military camp and subjected to intense training. Soon after, he was placed on the front lines of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine
Racism in the Russian army
When he initially refused to wear a military uniform, he claims Russian officers shot four people in front of him as a warning to others who hesitated.
“It affected me a lot; that’s why I decided to obey the order,” he said quietly, adding that after two weeks of weapons training, he was handed a gun and sent to the battlefield.
In his first week, he was assigned the task of collecting bodies and burying them in mass graves, a task that left deep psychological scars.
He described witnessing many deaths and narrowly surviving drone attacks. Despite the dangers of fighting, he endured racism and humiliation.
“They would force us to sit on the floor of a military truck during transportation. Even when we queued up for food, they didn’t want Africans to be served in front of them,” he recalled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iframe%3E
How a Kenyan escaped the Russian war
He was eventually shot in both legs but survived because his fellow foreign worker, an English-speaking Indian, helped him find help. The man later died in a drone attack.
Now reunited with his family, the former employee says the physical injuries are just part of the battle.
She admits she is struggling psychologically and hopes to get counseling as she begins the long process of rebuilding her life.
Source: Facebook
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