“I want to come back home”: South African men promised jobs in Russia, sent to trenches in Ukraine – Reuters

South African authorities are trying to secure the return of at least 17 citizens who say they were misled into joining Russian forces and later deployed to fight in Ukraine, according to reporting by Reuters.

Foreign nationals from Africa and elsewhere have increasingly been drawn into Russia’s war in Ukraine, sometimes under deceptive recruitment schemes promising work or training. Governments in several countries are now working to locate and repatriate their citizens while investigating the recruitment networks involved.

"We were shocked when we found out we were going to war"

The South African men, aged between 20 and 39, traveled to Russia believing they had been recruited for security or VIP protection training. Instead, they say they were presented with military contracts written in Russian and pressured to sign before being sent to eastern Ukraine, where fighting has been ongoing since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Reuters reported. 

One recruit told Reuters, “We were shocked when we found out we were going to war.”

Families began receiving distress messages in recent months. One father in Durban said his son was assigned to dig trenches near the front line in Donbas and often lacked food, water, and medical care. “‘Sometimes there’s no food, even for a week; sometimes no water,’” he quoted his son as saying. 

Photos sent home showed him in combat gear and taking shelter from drone attacks in makeshift underground spaces. The father also recalled his son pleading over the phone: “‘I want to come back home…Please, Daddy, talk to someone.’”

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesman said the case was receiving high-level attention and described efforts to retrieve the men as sensitive. South African officials believe the recruits were absorbed into Russian military units, prompting engagement mainly with Russian authorities rather than Ukraine, according to Reuters.

Police treat case as crime against the state

An investigation by South African police is treating the case as a suspected crime against the state, as South African law bans unauthorized military assistance to foreign forces. 

The probe has examined the alleged involvement of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma, who was reportedly present when the contracts were signed. She has denied wrongdoing and said she was herself misled.

Reuters reported that similar cases have emerged in other African countries. One Kenyan recruit, for example, was later reported killed on the front line after being misled about the nature of his deployment.