Lured to Russia for Jobs, Hundreds of Kenyans Wind Up Fighting in Ukraine
Kenyan authorities probing organized crime network involved in recruitment
Grace Gathoni holds a picture of her husband, Martin Mburu, 38, at her home in Kenya’s Kiambu County, on Dec. 12. Mburu has been reported dead on the frontlines of Russia's war against Ukraine.
Photographer: Simon Marks/BloombergMartin Mburu boarded an Air Arabia flight in Nairobi to Moscow on Oct. 21, convinced he was heading to a well-paid job as a driver or security guard. He’d been told by Kenyan and Russian recruiters he’d earn 250,000 shillings (about $2,000) a month.
His wife, Grace Gathoni, last spoke to Mburu on Nov. 19. Two days later, she saw a report on Kenyan television that the 38-year-old mini-bus driver had died on the frontlines of Russia’s war in Ukraine’s Donbas region.