Ukrainian forces, called the Freedom of Russia Legion, captured a Nigerian national who was fighting on the side of Russian forces.
The 29-year-old Nigerian mercenary, Kehinde Oluwagbemileke, was captured by the Freedom of Russia Legion in the Zaporizhzhia direction.
The Nigerian is one of hundreds of foreigners Russia has been recruiting to fight against Ukraine.
According to a report, the Nigerian was a prisoner who lived in Russia for four years and was involved in drug trafficking. After his arrest, Oluwagbemileke was offered a deal: join the so-called special military operation instead of serving time under Article 228 of Russia’s criminal code. What the Nigerian national wasn’t told was that the price of a clean slate could be his life.
Oluwagbemileke fought for five months. The report said the period is a relatively long time for a mercenary before surrendering in the Zaporizhzhia direction.
"Kehinde is one of thousands of mercenaries from third countries recruited by Russia’s Defense Ministry to fight in Ukraine. We’ve already published data on nearly 7,000 foreign fighters from 14 countries, but that’s only a small part of the foreigners the Kremlin has sent to die in Ukraine. All of them are cheap manpower, which is not spared." Reads part of the report.
Russia consistently recruits vulnerable foreigners for its war in Ukraine. In 2024, for example, around 2,000 Nepali men went to fight in Ukraine, most likely due to their very poor living circumstances and the need for money. They were forced to pay thousands of dollars to travel and join the recruitment – the average monthly Nepali salary is less than $200 – and then treated “like dogs” when they arrived and sent into battle to die ahead of Russian fighters. Some Nepali recruits who tried to escape were caught and badly beaten by Russian soldiers. At least 21 Nepali citizens have died fighting for Russia, and Moscow has said nothing about repatriating the dead.
Russia, and the Russian backed private military company Wagner (now ‘Africa Corps’), have a track record of deceptively recruiting young African men for their war on Ukraine. One Zambian, 23-year-old Lemekhani Nyirenda and one Tanzanian, 37-year-old Nemes Tarimo, were imprisoned in Russia on flimsy drugs charges, offered release if they fought for Wagner, and died fighting in Ukraine.
A report revealed African women are trapped in Russia working at a factory that makes arms being used in the war against Ukraine.
The factory is an enterprise based in the republic of Tatarstan set up to produce Iranian type kamikaze drones.
The women aged between 19 and 25 were duped into enrolling in what they thought was educational opportunities that would be followed by employment in Russian institutions through a program called Alabuga SEZ/ Start, that advertises through new media and the socials.
Russia began using cheap suicide drones imported from Iran to attack Ukraine, striking civilian infrastructure and damaging food and electricity supplies. The country had to look for a way of manufacturing its own using cheap labour which would not be readily available on its own soil.
In November 2023, Russia struck a deal to manufacture drones with Iranian help at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tatarstan, a republic in western Russia. Facing manpower shortages, Russia got into recruiting foreign nationals to staff the zone’s drone factory, including young women and girls from African countries.
One hundred eighty two women entered the programme in early 2024, many from Africa. This included Uganda (46), Kenya (14), Nigeria (14), South Sudan (14), Rwanda (14), and Sri Lanka (10). There were also joiners from Zambia (4), Ethiopia (6), Ghana (2), Malawi (2), Mozambique (1), South Africa (6), Tanzania (4), and Zimbabwe (4).
It’s worth noting that any Kenyan fighting in the war joined on their own initiative, since the Government of Kenya has not officially sent boots on the ground.
Meanwhile, Nigeria allegedly leads the African Continent with the number of Mercenaries recruited since the War began.
