Thousands of Africans Are Being Lured to Fight In Russia's War

[milestogo]

Mark Leon Goldberg
Jun 29, 2026

Russia’s war in Ukraine has become a grinding war of attrition. Every month, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers are killed or wounded on the front lines. But Vladimir Putin has so far resisted a full-scale mass mobilization that would force large numbers of ordinary Russians into uniform — a move that could prove politically costly at home. So Russia has turned to Africa for manpower.

In recent months, reports have emerged of African nationals being recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine. Some go knowingly. But many others appear to have been lured under false pretenses, promised jobs in Russia as truck drivers or cooks — only to find themselves trapped in military training camps and then sent to the front lines.

My guest today, Guyo Chepe Turi, has been investigating how this recruitment pipeline works. He is a researcher with Institute for Security Studies in Nairobi, Kenya. In a recent article, he examined how recruitment networks are targeting young Africans, including in Kenya, and sending them to the frontlines as canon fodder.

Ukraine estimates that there are nearly 3,000 fighters from at least 36 African countries now involved in Russia’s war and one in eight prisoners of war are Africans. The countries affected are diverse — Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, and others. The true number may be higher, because many of these cases go undocumented.

Read more: https://www.globaldispatches.org/p/thousands-of-africans-are-being-lured

[The Blue Flower]

1. Putin is worried about the politics of it?

Is there a sliver of democracy springing up in Russia? Do people actually have a say? I find it hopeful that he cares what the people think of him.

[Igel]

2. No. It's more like he doesn't want to impose too much on some parts of society.

The rule was that there'd be conscription and call ups, but conscripts wouldn't be sent to fight. Whether that still holds, I don't know. But there were recruitment drives, with bonuses and such. Most of those fighting aren't from what I call the "traditional Russian dialect" areas in European Russia. Those are west of the Urals, all ethnic Russians. They're from autonomous areas and constituent 'republics' or whatever the current term is.

Like the Africans, they sign up to help their kin have a better life. Some Russian bonuses amount to many years' household incomes and if it's you, mom, and 5 younger siblings, that's money that'll keep them going (when added to their current income) for years. Plus the propaganda is that, you know, it's moral, it's just, it's duty, and, well, Russia's winning anyway and national destiny and all that.

This lets the parts of Russia that Putin cares about suffer minimal disruption. Yeah, inflation. But food, gasoline, all that continues--and the war is far away and was kept that way. What may change public opinion is bringing the war into their backyards.

(Note that ultimately what's going to matter is what the hoi polloi say but those higher in government, in the security apparatus, or in business. A lone wolf gunman's unlikely to take him down. That, and what happens on the front lines--and in Krym. In April Russia had a net loss in occupied territory, but that was April and the Ukrainian gains were slight.)