Kenyan tourist says he was forced into Russia's army and surrendered to Ukrainian troops

A Kenyan national who was visiting Russia on holiday says he was forced to join the Russian army and was sent to the front before escaping to Ukrainian-held territory. The man, who identifies himself as Evans, appeared in a video posted on Facebook by the Ukrainian 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade. Ukrainian officials said they captured him in Vovchansk, in Ukraine's Kharkiv region.

Evans described how he was lured into signing papers that bound him to the Russian military. He said he did not know what he was signing and was told that after his visa expired he could stay in Russia. The man who allegedly signed him into the Russian army told Evans he might be able to help with his visa expiration, claiming he could get him a job in the country. "I asked him, "What job?" But he didn't tell me. In the evening, he came with papers written in Russian," Evans said. "I didn't know it was military work. So he told me to sign here. After I signed, he took my passport and my phone and said he would return them." He was picked up in a private car and taken to a military camp, where he spent about a week before being given a machine gun and sent to the front line.

Evans said there were other foreigners in his unit, including Belarusians, Tajiks and other Africans. He said he could not understand Russian and that the commanders would grab him and scream orders at him. "Go, go. That's what they did. They threw me into the forest. And after that, that's when I ran away from there. I didn't go to fight, I ran away," he said. He then spent two nights in the forest looking for the Ukrainian army, hoping they would save him, as he feared the Russians would kill him for desertion.

Evans' case is not unique. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement on August 4 that the Russian army in the Kharkiv region recruits soldiers from "China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and African countries." The Associated Press reported last year about social media posts that promised education and requalification to African women who arrive in Russia and are used as workers in Russian factories to make weapons of war.

Ukrainian authorities said the case underscores the broader reporting around foreign nationals being drawn into Russia's military efforts in Ukraine, highlighting the risks faced by travelers and the challenges of verifying recruitment claims amid ongoing fighting in the Kharkiv region.