Lured by lucrative job offers but sent to the front line

David Kuloba’s mother warned him against going to Russia after he accepted a job as a security guard advertised by an employment agency in Kenya.

At first, the family, who live in the crowded informal settlement of Kibera in the Kenyan capital, were thrilled when he said he had found work abroad – it seemed like a rare break.

The 22-year-old had been doing temporary work in Nairobi – from selling peanuts to construction jobs – and had long hoped to find work in the Gulf.

But when his mother asked which country he was heading to, his answer shocked her.

“He showed me his phone and said, ‘Look, it’s Russia,'” Susan Koloba told BBC Newsday.

“I told him, ‘Don’t you see what they’re showing on TV about Russia? It’s not good at all,'” she recalled.

But her son insisted the offer was real, telling her he had been promised more than $7,000 (£5,250) when it arrived – a life-changing sum for a young man on no fixed income.

Despite her protests, he traveled to Russia in August without telling her exactly when he was leaving.

She was shocked when he called her later saying he had arrived and sent a photo of himself in full combat gear.

“He said, ‘Mom, the job we were told we came to do has been changed, but even this job isn’t bad,'” she said.

Her son explained that he and some other Kenyan men had two weeks of combat training, and were heading to the battle zone in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022.

Within days, he told her that he and others had been ambushed in an area controlled by Russian forces. She begged him to come home.

I said: David, please leave this place. He said to me: How do I leave? I signed a contract. Give me at least one year.

“Then I received the letter I had been dreading,” Ms. Coloba said.

It was October 4th. David sent her a voice message saying he was about to go into battle, and if he didn’t survive, he wanted her to get details of his Russian military ID and contract, which was written in Russian.

He urged her to take the documents to the Russian embassy if anything happened to him.

That was the last time I heard from him.

Soon after, she sought help from her son’s friend, who was disoriented and terrified, who told her he had heard of David’s death.

“I asked his friend: How did you know?” He said: Let me give you the number of the agent who received us in Russia.

Ms. Koloba sent a message to the number – and responses came in Russian at first. When she identified herself, the person told her in English that David was missing and feared dead.

“I regret having to tell you this about your son,” the agent said.

She asked for a photo of his body, or confirmation that David was at the morgue. No one came.

The contact told her he was “too far away” and suggested she travel to Russia herself, or send another relative, something she said the family could not afford.

Later, the same person told her that she was “entitled to compensation” for her son’s death, but again, without providing any documentation.

Ms Koloba says she has been unable to get official confirmation from the Russian authorities about David. When she visited the Russian embassy in Nairobi, officials there told her they were not “connected with the military.”

She has no idea what to do next, and feels sad: “How do we start? Because we don’t know anything. He was my firstborn son. I depended on him.”

The father of another Kenyan who went to work in Russia told the BBC that he was recruited on the basis that he would be a driver, and had nothing to do with armed fighting.

The young man ended up injured in Ukraine, and has been so traumatized that he has not been able to speak since returning home two weeks ago. The BBC agreed not to reveal his identity to protect his safety.

His father did not discover that his son had traveled to Russia until he received news of his infection.

The father told the BBC: “He hinted that people would go, but I did not encourage him.” “I was following the war from the beginning. I didn’t feel comfortable.”

He said the agents promised about $1,500 a month, which is a good amount for a qualified driver in Kenya.

His son later told him that, like David Koloba, he was trained for only two weeks before being sent to the battlefield.

“He said he was injured in the bush and could not get treatment for five days. He was using painkillers,” the father said.

He was eventually taken towards the border, where he received first aid and was later transferred to St. Petersburg.

The father said he described seeing “scattered bodies of other fighters” and explained that many like him had signed one-year contracts without fully understanding the terms.

last month, The Kenyan Foreign Minister said that it is known that about 200 Kenyans are fighting for Russia She acknowledged that recruitment networks were still active.

This followed news in September that A.J A young Kenyan athlete has been arrested in UkraineSaying he was tricked into joining the Russian army.

The government now says several recruitment agencies are under investigation, and some licenses have already been suspended.

Sylvanus Osoro, Kenya’s parliamentary majority leader, told the BBC: “Some agencies are luring young people with promises of large payments. The government is tracking down those agencies linked to this scam.”

He explained that out of about 130 recruitment agencies registered in Kenya, about five have been reported, with three already suspended and two others under investigation.

Osoro said Parliament’s Defense and Foreign Relations Committee had taken up the matter and the agencies summoned were expected to explain how they recruited the youth, the information they provided and how contracts were offered.

But families whose relatives are unexpectedly fighting alongside Russian forces have criticized the government for its slow response, saying they feel helpless.

Asked what was being done to bring back those drawn into combat roles, Osoro said the process must follow diplomatic channels.

“The contract is signed willingly, even if they are not aware,” he said. “The matter can only be dealt with diplomatically. These engagements happen.”

He said that all known cases had been “identified” and that officials were checking the circumstances in which the contracts were signed. But he refused to confirm how many Kenyans may have died.

“I will not submit such a report. This is not appropriate for me,” he said. “What I can say is that it is a work in progress.”

Osoro said new legislation is being drafted to tighten oversight of recruitment agencies, including stricter scrutiny before issuing licenses and clearer distinctions between work categories.

The issue extends beyond Kenya. Authorities in several African countries have reported cases of young people being offered lucrative job offers in Russia, which subsequently led to military conscription.

Many families are reluctant to speak out, fearing stigma or uncertainty about the legal implications for their relatives abroad.

In South Africa, it became a major scandal after it was reported that the daughter of former President Jacob Zuma was involved in the recruitment process. She denies any wrongdoing.

Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned that anyone fighting for Russia will be treated as an enemy combatant, and that the only safe way out is to surrender and be treated as a prisoner of war.

Ms. Koloba still has no official confirmation of her son’s fate. She hopes to return his body to her homeland if he dies.

“I feel heartbroken,” she said. “He wanted to help us. He thought he would go get a better job.”

Additional reporting by BBC Newsday’s Maureen Nyokori in Nairobi