How Russians Trick Ghanaians Into Their War: A Prisoner of War's Story

Philip Minsafio, a citizen of Ghana who was lured in Russia's army and captured by Ukrainian forces, says he flew to Russia to look at a printing press he had found online, never met the seller, was arrested over expired documents, and was then offered a way to earn his fare home in the Russian army. Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project published his account in a video on YouTube:

According to the project, Minsafio ended up in a cheap hostel with 18 other Africans who had been deceived and the Russian police pushed him to serve in the army to earn money for the journey back.

His Account

Minsafio account can be found in text below:

There is an app called Jiji. They sell all sorts of things there. If you open it, you can find what you need.
It's like Ozon [a Russian online marketplace, ed.]. 

A printing press. I had never seen such machines anywhere before. I called this person and he said he was in Russia. And I went to Russia, but he wasn't there.

I saw an advertisement, I liked it, and I went to Russia because, maybe this will sound silly to you, I wanted to fly on a plane. I had never sat on a plane before, so I agreed when the guy said I needed to come and look at the machine myself, and if I liked it, I would buy it. I had money, so I decided to go. I had 14 days for everything. 14 days for the visit, but I never met this person.

I spent 6 or 7 hours at the airport until the wife of the guy who had deceived me called a taxi for me. The guy wasn't in the taxi, but the car took me to a hostel. Six people lived in one room. In total there were more than 18 people in that hostel. When I got there, it turned out they had all been deceived in the same way.

I was arrested because my documents had expired. When they caught me, I cried and thought I would be deported back to Ghana. But I wasn't deported. I begged them to let me go. 

Then one of them asked me: "Do you need money to go back to your homeland?" I answered: "Yes." And then he said that without documents I wouldn't be able to earn it, but he could help me earn it in the army.

I asked him about Russia's war against Ukraine and said I'm not a soldier. He answered: "No, no, you won't go to the front line. You'll be here, and only for a year."

The Project's Figures

The project says that, as of October 2026, it has the personal data of more than 5,400 citizens of 43 African countries who signed contracts with the Russian armed forces, including at least 335 from Ghana alone. It says dozens of Africans from 18 countries were captured by Ukrainian forces and that their number keeps growing. According to the project Russia uses Africans as cannon fodder, men its commanders do not expect to survive their first and only combat mission.

The Billboards

The video also covers the billboards in the Ghanaian capital Accra which carry the messages of Stop Russian Recruiters and Ukraine's "I Want to Live" and "I Want to Find". The Russian embassy in Ghana replied that Russia has never used deceptive schemes to recruit foreigners and that no authoritative body has presented convincing evidence to the contrary. We covered the embassy's reply and the project's four questions earlier.

The embassy's reaction produced a wave of articles in Ghana's media and discussion on social networks. An angry post by Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its official Facebook page, which has 1 million followers, carried news of the local campaign around the world. 

 

 

 

According to the sources of Stop Russian Recruiters similar campaigns are to be held in other cities around the world. 

A Safe Way Out

Ghanaians and other foreign nationals lured into Russia's armed forces have an option to safely escape the battlefield with Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project. See our FAQ for recommendations for victims of Russian military recruitment and their families.