NAIROBI, Kenya — A Kenyan long-distance runner captured in Ukraine has pleaded tearfully for his life, saying he was tricked into joining the Russian army and fears he will be killed if sent back.
In a video released Wednesday by Ukraine’s 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade, 36-year-old Evans Kibet — wearing a red sports top and speaking with visible distress — said he had travelled to Russia hoping to compete in races but was instead coerced into military service.
“I will die there,” Kibet said, waving his hands toward the unseen interviewer. Behind him hung the brigade’s flag, while his voice cracked as he begged to be allowed to return home to see his 16-year-old daughter.
The Ukrainian brigade said the recording was made with Kibet’s consent and shared it as evidence of how Moscow recruits vulnerable foreigners.
“He fought on the side of the enemy, so whether to believe the words and tears is up to your discretion,” the unit wrote on Facebook.
Kibet’s family in western Kenya said they were shocked by the footage.
“I am so traumatised. I didn’t sleep at night,” his cousin Edith Chesoi told the BBC. His younger brother, Isaac Kipyego, described him as “a humble man with few words” and a family pillar.
The runner’s path from athletics to a war zone appears to have begun with his lifelong passion for sport.
Raised in a farming family near Mount Elgon, Kibet trained in Iten, the Rift Valley town known for producing Olympians.
But unlike Kenya’s global champions, he competed mainly in little-known road races across Europe and Asia, struggling to make a living.
Family and friends say he had been under financial strain earlier this year. In March, when he failed to secure a spot on a racing team headed to Poland, he later jumped at an offer from a sports agent promising races in Russia. “He was very excited… even I was happy for him,” his brother recalled.
But according to Kibet’s own account in the Ukrainian video, the trip quickly turned into a trap.
After overstaying his visa, his Russian host allegedly offered to “fix” his status — only to hand him military enlistment papers written in Russian. His passport and phone were taken, and he was told bluntly: “Either you fight or we’ll kill you.”
Kibet said he underwent a week of rudimentary training, learning to handle a rifle through gestures and shoves.
He insists he never fought, and that before his first deployment he fled, hiding for two days in a forest near Vovchansk, in Ukraine’s northeast, before surrendering to Ukrainian soldiers.
“I said: ‘I am a Kenyan, please don’t shoot me,’” Kibet recalled in the video, reenacting how he approached the soldiers with his hands raised.
Ukraine’s spokesperson on prisoners of war, Petro Yatsenko, confirmed that Kibet is among a small group of foreign fighters now in Ukrainian custody. Others include nationals of Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba, and Sri Lanka.
“Most are deceived — promised jobs in factories — while others join voluntarily. Very few survive to be captured,” Yatsenko said.
The official added that Ukraine would consider repatriating Kibet if the Kenyan government formally requested it, though many African states “show little interest” in reclaiming captured citizens.
Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet commented.
For Kibet’s family, however, the priority is clear. “If he made a mistake, let them forgive him,” his brother said. “We only want him back.”
