Eighty-two Kenyan nationals who were deceived into joining the Russian war against Ukraine and are now serving on the frontlines have successfully established contact with Kenya’s Mission in Moscow. This crucial development has brought a glimmer of hope to their anxious families back home, as four of these individuals have already been repatriated to Kenya through coordinated efforts between the embassy and their relatives.

The revelation comes nearly two weeks after the Kenyan government publicly pledged to address the dire situation facing its citizens caught in the ongoing conflict. Across several counties, families remain gripped by fear and uncertainty, clinging to their mobile phones, replaying desperate voice notes, and staring at haunting photographs of their sons clad in Russian military uniforms. For many, each passing day deepens the torment of not knowing whether their loved ones will return home alive from a war marked by devastation, such as the drone attacks that damaged residential buildings in Kyiv in October 2025.

These young men had boarded planes filled with hope, believing they were headed toward well-paying job opportunities abroad. Instead, their dreams quickly turned into a nightmare as they found themselves unwilling participants in a brutal foreign war, thousands of miles from the safety and familiarity of home. All had departed Kenya on tourist visas, misled by unscrupulous recruitment agencies and certain Russian entities.

Investigations by The Standard revealed that some of these deceitful operators had been running their schemes within Kenya, enticing desperate job seekers with false promises of lucrative employment in Russia, only to deliver them into the harsh and life-threatening realities of a conflict they never intended to join.