The shock and grief gripping Kenyan families continues to deepen as more details emerge about how young men are being deceived into travelling to Russia—only to be trafficked, forced into combat, or disappear without a trace.

22-year-old David Kuloba was surviving on odd jobs in his small town in Kenya. Then a recruitment agency led David to believe he had finally secured the opportunity he’d been waiting for. They promised him a security job in Russia with a payout of over $7,000 on arrival, a life-changing prospect.

But when David told his mother where he was headed, she expressed concern and pleaded for him not to go. Despite her concerns, David travelled abroad in August. When he finally contacted her, he sent a photo of himself in full combat gear. Not the security guard uniform she was expecting.

Promised work, forced into war

According to David, the job he had been promised had “changed.” The BBC reports that he and a group of other Kenyan recruits had been given only two weeks of combat training before being sent to fight in Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine. Within days, he reported that his unit had been ambushed.

Then came the last message: a voice note sent on 4 October, in which he told his mother that he was heading into battle and might not survive. He gave her his Russian military ID and said that if anything happened, she should take the documents to the Russian embassy.

That was the final time she heard from him.

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