Foreign minister condemns alleged recruitment schemes sending Africans to fight for Russia.

Ghana’s foreign minister said Friday that 55 Ghanaians have been killed while fighting in Ukraine, among hundreds of Africans reportedly recruited to join Russian forces.

“We were informed that 272 Ghanaians are believed to have been lured into battle since 2022, of which an estimated 55 have been killed and two captured as prisoners of war,” Foreign Minister Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa said on X.

He described the figures as depressing and frightening after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart in Kyiv.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to these heartbreaking statistics. These are not just numbers. They represent human lives, the hopes of many Ghanaian families and our nation,” Ablakwa wrote.

Ukraine said this week that more than 1,780 citizens from 36 African countries had been identified among Russian ranks.

Ablakwa said Ghana’s government was committed to tracking and dismantling illegal recruitment operations, including those operating on the dark web, within its jurisdiction.

Reporters also recently spoke with four Kenyans, three of them wounded, who managed to return home.

They said they had been promised well paying civilian jobs in Russia but were instead forced to sign military contracts and deployed to the front lines in Ukraine with minimal training.

In Kenya, a central figure in a network that allegedly sent more than 1,000 nationals to fight for the Russian army was charged on Thursday with human trafficking, according to the state prosecutor.

In South Africa, 15 men who were reportedly misled into joining mercenary forces were repatriated this week.

Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said several others remain in Russia and at least two have died fighting in Ukraine.