
Several African men say they were promised civilian jobs in Russia only to find themselves pushed toward the front lines of Moscow's war in Ukraine, according to a new report.
The New York Times detailed the story of James Kamau Ndungu, a 32-year-old unemployed Kenyan who told friends in mid-2025 that he had been promised a day-laborer job in Russia. In June, he sent a photo from Istanbul Airport, saying he was in transit.