The families searching for African recruits lost in the Ukraine war

Kenyans like Oscar Khagola – seen her on the far right in Nairobi on 21 January – are being lured to Russia and recruited into the military to fight against Ukraine © The Washington Post via Getty Images

Russia has recruited more than 1,400 African nationals to fight in Ukraine, with more than one in five reported dead, according to an investigation that for the first time publishes the names of foreign fighters sent to the front lines.

The report, The Business of Despair, by the investigative collective All Eyes On Wagner, documents recruitment networks operating across Africa and Russia.