A Kenyan man fighting for Russian forces was captured by Ukrainian troops near Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast on Sept. 17, the 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade said. The man identified himself only as Evans and told Ukrainian forces he had been deceived into military service.
Evans said he traveled to Russia as a tourist and had stayed about two weeks before his return flight. He told interrogators that a host who had welcomed him offered to help extend his stay and then presented documents written in Russian for him to sign. Unaware of their contents, he signed the papers.
He said the next day his passport and phone were taken and strangers transported him for seven hours to what turned out to be a military camp. When he resisted, Evans said, he was threatened and told he could either serve or be killed. He described receiving only a week of basic training before being moved to another facility.
Speaking in a video released by the brigade, Evans painted a chaotic picture of the camps, where recruits were shouted at and manhandled. He said he met other foreigners who, like him, had unwittingly signed up for service after being presented with documents they could not read.
Evans said he was later abandoned in a forest, gave himself the chance to flee, removed his uniform and walked for two days until he reached Ukrainian lines. “If I went back to the Russians they would have killed me,” he said, adding that Ukrainian soldiers fed and watered him after he surrendered.
The man appealed to authorities to help him return home, saying he is a single father whose 16-year-old daughter lives with his mother. “I’m an athlete…I don’t want Russia, I will die there,” he told interrogators, pleading to be reunited with his child.
