NAIROBI, Kenya — Grief and anger filled a Nairobi press briefing on Tuesday as families of Kenyans who died fighting in the Russia–Ukraine war pleaded with the government to help bring home the bodies of their loved ones and crack down on recruitment agencies accused of trafficking young people into the conflict.
The families, drawn from different parts of the country, said their relatives were lured abroad with promises of well-paying civilian jobs, only to end up on the frontlines of a foreign war.
Human rights organisation Vocal Africa, which convened the briefing, described the situation as a national crisis and accused the state of failing to protect its citizens.
“Some Kenyans have lost their lives, others remain stranded in hostile conditions with no access to help,” said Vocal Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid. “This situation exposes a serious failure of protection and oversight by the government.”
According to the organisation, at least 18 Kenyan deaths linked to the Russia–Ukraine war have been independently verified. Families, however, fear the true number could be far higher.
One father whose son returned home injured told journalists that the young man had claimed there were close to 500 Kenyans currently on the warfront, a revelation that has raised serious questions about how recruitment has continued undetected.
The exploitation of Kenyan youth through deceptive recruitment into the Russian military is a grotesque violation of human dignity that demands immediate global condemnation. By weaponizing economic desperation, rogue agencies are luring vulnerable citizens with false promises
Among the grieving parents was Charles Ojiambo from Busia County, whose son, Oscar Agolla, a former Kenya Defence Forces soldier, was killed after being recruited last year.
Ojiambo said his son left Kenya in May, travelling through Istanbul before proceeding to Moscow. He was never told that the job involved active combat.
“He sent photos from the battlefield. He was with 13 other people,” Ojiambo said, fighting back tears. “If I had known he was going to fight, I would never have allowed him to go. Kenya is not at war.”
Ojiambo said he was later informed by embassy officials that his son had been killed and that his body is being preserved in a mortuary abroad.
Another victim, identified only as Gathoni, said her husband died after being recruited by an agency she named as Global Face Recruitment Agency.
“He told me he was going to work as a driver, only to be turned into a soldier,” she said, adding that the family had been asked to raise Sh1.5 million to transport the body from Moscow.
A mother of four, Gathoni appealed directly to President William Ruto to intervene, saying the cost of repatriation was far beyond her means.
Similar distress was echoed by Peter Kariuki from Uasin Gishu County, whose son returned home with injuries and psychological trauma after being deployed to the front.
“I started getting scared when I saw him in a strange uniform on WhatsApp,” Kariuki said. His son later revealed that many other Kenyans were still being recruited due to desperation and lack of opportunities back home.
Vocal Africa is now calling for urgent government action, including the establishment of a national hotline for reporting recruitment into the Russian army, as well as dedicated desks at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs and Kenya’s embassy in Russia.
The organisation is also demanding the arrest and prosecution of rogue recruitment agents, transparency from the Russian Embassy on the number of Kenyans who have travelled there in recent months, and state-facilitated repatriation of both survivors and the remains of those who have died.
“We are demanding the safe return of Kenyans who wish to come home, and dignity for those who lost their lives,” Khalid said.
