You have to pay 99 goats for a bride”: a citizen of Kenya told how he was captured by the Ukrainian Armed Forces
The man decided to go to Russia to work, but did not take into account that everyone in this country is being fooled.
‘Russia continues to falsely attract foreigners to the war against Ukraine, promising them high-paying jobs in the civilian sector. This is how citizens of African countries, in particular, end up on the front lines in Ukraine. One of the captured Kenyans told journalist Dmitrо Karpenko in an interview how he ended up in the Russian army and what motives prompted him to go to Russia in general.
35-year-old Francis from Kenya said that he has a diploma in electrical engineering, worked under a contract in a large company, and after completing it, he did odd jobs in his city. According to him, this income was not enough to provide for his family. The man is married and has a daughter.
According to the prisoner, in July 2025, he met a university friend who told him about an alleged vacancy for a security guard in Russia. At that time, the Kenyan was unemployed, so he agreed.
To complete the documents, he was only required to provide copies of his passport, a certificate of good conduct, and a medical certificate. The prisoner claims that even when signing the contract, he was convinced that he was going to work as a security guard.
Only after arriving at the military base, where he was given a uniform, did the Kenyan realize that this was about military service, not civilian work. Citizens of Colombia, Iraq, Nigeria, Cameroon, and other countries were at the training ground with him.
According to the Kenyan, during his service he received about 700 thousand rubles. He planned to spend the money he earned on his own housing.
“The money would be enough to build his own house,” he said.
According to Francis, there is a tradition in his tribe to pay a bride price. This price can be as high as 99 goats, but the amount is subject to specific agreement between the groom and the girl’s parents.
“This is a matter of negotiation. You don’t have to pay everything at once. You can pay gradually, even over many years. If your father-in-law and mother-in-law see that you are a good man, they can say: “Enough, we forgive the rest,” – said the Kenyan.
Regarding his own attitude to the war in Ukraine, the man said that he did not really understand what was really happening.
“I only knew that there was some kind of conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but I did not understand that this was a full-scale war,” – he said.
According to Francis, he was at the front only after two weeks of training, and was captured on November 22, 2025 during a change of positions. He said that before that the commander was blown up by a mine, after which the unit received an order to withdraw to another position.
“We were approaching the Ukrainian side, and during the transition we met two Ukrainian soldiers who fired shots into the air,” – recalls the mercenary.