Over 1,000 Kenyans recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine, report says

By Humphrey Malalo

NAIROBI, Feb 19 (Reuters) – More than 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited to fight on Russia’s side in the war in Ukraine, according to a Kenyan intelligence report presented to lawmakers this week, five times more than authorities had previously estimated.

The Russian Embassy in Nairobi denied on Thursday that Moscow was involved in illegally recruiting Kenyans to fight in Ukraine, though it said foreign citizens could voluntarily join its armed forces.

Reading the report of Kenya’s National Intelligence Service to lawmakers on Wednesday, Parliament Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah described a network of rogue state officials it said had colluded with human trafficking syndicates to recruit Kenyans to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The recruiters targeted former soldiers and police officers, as well as unemployed people, with promises that they would earn some 350,000 shillings ($2,715) per month and get bonuses of up to 1.2 million shillings ($9,309).

“So far over 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited and departed to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war,” Ichung’wah said.

Kenya said in November that over 200 of its citizens were fighting for Russia in Ukraine.

That same month Ukraine said some 1,400 citizens from three dozen African countries were fighting alongside Russian forces on its territory, with some recruited through deception.

As of February 2026, 89 Kenyans were on the Ukrainian frontline, 39 were hospitalized, and 28 missing in action, the new report said.

TOURIST VISAS

Those enlisted initially left Kenya on tourist visas and travelled to Russia via Turkey or the United Arab Emirates, it said. After Kenya tightened surveillance at Nairobi airport, the recruits started travelling via Uganda, South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Recruitment agencies colluded with rogue Kenyan airport staff, immigration and other state officials, and with staff at the Russian Embassy in Nairobi and at the Kenyan Embassy in Moscow to facilitate the recruits’ travel, the report said.

In a statement, the Russian Embassy in Kenya said:

“The government authorities of Russia have never engaged in illegal recruitment of Kenyan citizens in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.”

It said it had never issued visas to Kenyan citizens who sought to travel to Russia “with the stated purpose of participating in the Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine”, adding however that under Russian law, foreign citizens can voluntarily enlist in its military.

A Kenyan Foreign Ministry spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment regarding its embassy in Moscow.

Reports of African men being lured into Russia with promises of jobs as bodyguards and ending up on Ukraine’s frontline have become more frequent in recent months and created tensions between Moscow and some of the countries involved.

Four South Africans who got trapped in Ukraine’s Donbas region returned home on Wednesday, part of a group of 17 who sent distress calls to their government last year.

Kenya’s foreign ministry said last week 27 Kenyans had been rescued after being stranded in Russia. Kenya’s Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi has said he plans to visit Russia next month for talks on the issue.

($1 = 128.9000 Kenyan shillings)

(Additional reporting by Vincent Mumo Nzilani and Elias Biryabarema. Writing by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Gareth Jones)