NAIROBI, Kenya Sept 21 – Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei says government is investigating reports that some Kenyans have been captured as Prisoners of War in Ukraine.
Reports suggest that the said individuals were trafficked to Russia.
The development comes after a 36-year-old athlete was captured by Ukrainian forces after fleeing Russian military service where he claims he was tricked into joining.
Sing’Oei said Kenya is now working through its Moscow mission to gather more information.
“We are keenly following information on three or four Kenyans allegedly trafficked to Russia and currently held as POWs by Ukraine. We shall provide additional information. In the meantime, we assure the families that our Mission in Moscow and our teams at HQ are pursuing the matter with all diligence,” said the Foreign Affairs PS
The BBC says Evans Kibet told his family he would only be gone for two weeks.
On the video filmed in Ukraine, Kibet says that he went to Russia as a visitor and not for a “military job”.
Then, after a fortnight, his host asked him if he would like to stay longer.
“I said: ‘Yes, but the problem is that my visa is expired’. He said: ‘No, I can do something for you.'” And then he promised Kibet a job.
“In the evening, he came with some papers written in Russian. He told me: ‘This is the job I want you to do.’
“I didn’t know it was a military job.”
Kibet says he then signed the papers and the man took his phone and passport.
“And that is how everything went wrong… that signing ruined my life.”
According to Kibet, some other people turned up and told him to get in a car. They then drove for around seven hours.
“I found myself in a military camp.”
Kibet says he was informed that he had signed up to be in the army and that he had no choice.
“I was told: ‘Either you go to fight or we’ll kill you.'”
He says a week of basic training followed, during which he was shown how to handle an automatic rifle. None of his commanders spoke English, so instructions came through shoves and gestures.
Kibet insists he never engaged in combat and then on the way to what would have been his first mission, he ditched his equipment and escaped, wandering for two days through a forest near Vovchansk in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region.
He then approached some Ukrainian soldiers.
“I went there with my hands up,” he says repeating the gesture for the camera.
“I said: ‘I am a Kenyan, please don’t shoot me.’
“Everyone pointed their guns at me, but I told them to calm down. The commander came, they tied me. I told them: ‘No, I am unarmed, I don’t want anything. I’m here to save my life.”
Despite Kibet’s family being in shock over the video, there is some relief that he is in the hands of the Ukrainians.
“We feel that he’s a bit safe [with them] rather than being in Russia,” his brother Mr Kipyego said.
The family is asking the Kenyan authorities to intervene. The ministry of foreign affairs has not yet responded to a request for comment.
“If the government of his country of origin expresses interest in his repatriation, Ukraine is open to negotiations about transferring him home,” Ukrainian spokesperson Mr Yatsenko said.
However, speaking about other prisoners-of-war, he added that “most African states show little interest in the return of such citizens and do not wish to take them back”.
For Kibet’s loved ones, their only priority is his safety.
“If he made a mistake, let them forgive him. We only want him back,” his brother said.
