Ukraine claims more than 1.700 Africans fighting for Russia

More than 1.700 Africans are fighting on Russia's side in its war in Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha said, alleging that Moscow is using deception to lure them into fighting.

Speaking alongside his Ghanaian counterpart, Sibiha said talks were underway with governments across Africa to prevent their citizens from being drawn into such schemes. Ghana will chair the regional bloc, the African Union, next year.

"We clearly see that Russia is trying to drag African citizens into a deadly war," Sibiha told a news conference. "According to our data, there are currently more than 1.780 citizens from the African continent in the Russian army," he said, according to Reuters.

He added that these fighters come from 36 different countries across the continent.

Russian authorities deny that they are illegally recruiting African citizens to fight in the armed forces.

However, in recent months, there have been increasing reports of African men lured to Russia with promises of jobs and then finding themselves on the front lines in Ukraine, causing tensions between Moscow and some of the countries involved.

Ghana's Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said many Africans fighting for Russia are victims of deception, lured on the "dark web" by promises of ordinary jobs.

"They have no security experience. They have no military experience. They are not trained," Ablakva said.

"They were just lured and tricked, then sent to the front lines."

Ablaqua expressed solidarity with Ukraine and called for a ceasefire to end the war, which marked its fourth anniversary on Tuesday. He said he would ask Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to release two Ghanaian prisoners of war who were captured while fighting for Russia.

Ghana will promote programs to raise public awareness about human trafficking networks that fraudulently recruit for Russian forces during its chairmanship of the African Union, Ablaqua said.