Richard Kanu served in Sierra Leone’s military for more than 10 years, but nothing prepared him for the Russian army, which he says he was tricked into joining.
As a migrant in St. Petersburg, he applied for a job by signing some Russian-language paperwork. He didn’t realize he had signed a contract for military service until he arrived at a base in Rostov-on-Don, just outside Ukraine.
“They loaded us into a truck and I found myself in Donetsk,” he told the Kyiv Independent news website in 2024. “They said the contract you signed was to go to war.”
Russian propaganda often highlights stories of volunteers from “friendly” or “neutral” African nations joining the army to fight in Ukraine, but many of these recruits did not volunteer at all. They were sent to the front lines through deceit and coercion.
Since the start of 2024, a total of 3,344 foreign nationals who went to fight in Ukraine have received Russian citizenship, according to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The Insider, a Russia-focused, independent media outlet, estimates that around 2,000 citizens from more than 50 countries have fought in the Donbas region, with 75% supporting Russia.
Ukrainian POW camps hold a few dozen foreign fighters, according to The Insider.
“None have been exchanged over the past year,” it wrote in a November 7 report. “This is partly because Russian authorities have not requested their exchange, and in their home countries, many of these individuals face criminal prosecution for their mercenary activity.”
The horrors of war shocked Kanu. So many of the men he trained with in Rostov-on-Don, some of them fellow migrant workers from Africa, were lying dead on the ground in Donetsk.
While losing hundreds and sometimes as many as 1,000 troops a day in its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has resorted to desperation in its attempts to reinforce its fallen troops. They have used foreign fighters in human-wave attacks, recklessly treating men as cannon fodder, according to European officials and members of the international intelligence community.
Even after injuring his foot, Kanu was forced to attack a heavily defended Ukrainian position with two other men when he was captured.
“I said, ‘a tank is there, RPG is there, drones, all different artillery. How do you expect us to capture that place?’ The commander said, ‘I don’t care. You have to face your enemy,’ ” Kanu recounted. “The commander pushed us outside and said go.”
Somali Adil Muhammad also said he was tricked into joining the military as a migrant in Russia. He accepted a job offer to be a security guard. He thought he would be guarding a bank or a hospital.
“Nobody told me you are going to the front line, going to kill,” he told the Independent. “By the time we are going to the front line, I know that something is wrong.”
There, he saw other foreigners among the ranks of Russian forces, including men from Ghana, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria.
After training in Rostov-on-Don, he was sent to Donetsk. He was captured after four days of what he called “running for his life.”
Now, as a POW in Ukraine, he said regrets going to Russia in the first place and hopes his story will dissuade others from following a similar path.
“I got myself into this situation because I don’t know the language,” he said. “I got myself into a big problem.”
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