NTV Kenya: "Stop Thinking About Going to Russia. You Will Go There and You Will Die".

NTV Kenya has reported on what happens to Kenyans who take up job offers in Russia advertised through agents. The report features two cases. Dankan Sheege went to Russia believing he had been hired as a driver and ended up on the frontline. He managed to return to Kenya by faking madness. Lucy Mwaniki, mother of another Kenyan who was lured to Russia's army is still waiting. Her son Fredrick Mwaniki sent her a photograph of himself in a Russian military uniform on November 28, 2025, told her to pray, and has not been in contact since. The report is available on YouTube:

What the Recruiters Promised

Dankan Sheege found work through an agent who described the position as a driving job. His monthly salary was set at 330,000 Kenyan shillings [approximately $2,500]. "I looked at it and saw a bright future," he told NTV Kenya. "I thought my life was going to change. So I went with great joy, knowing things would be different."

He has spoken previously about his experience in a longer interview published by Tuko, previously documented on StopRussianRecruiters.org. For the NTV report, he returned to the specific moment when the nature of the arrangement became clear.

"The place we were taken - when you walk in through that door, you come out the other side in full combat gear." He had never touched a gun before leaving Kenya. He had not expected to. "I realised then: the driving work does not exist here."

What Kenyans Found When They Got There

Dankan Sheege described his first day at the battlefield in terms that make the scale of the deception plain. "I arrived at the place where I was supposed to work and found bodies lying everywhere," he said. "I knew: this is the work I have come to do. Maybe next time I will be one of those bodies."

The salary he had been promised never came. "Tonight we have been killed in large numbers," he said of the conditions at the front. "Drones only. You either escape or you die."

The Families Left Waiting

Fredrick Mwaniki went to Russia the same way - through an agent, with a promise of work. His mother Lucy told NTV Kenya that before contact stopped he sent her a photograph showing him in full military uniform with military bags. His message with it: "Pray for us a lot. This three-week training is already too much for us. We don't know what is ahead of us." After November 28, 2025, she heard nothing more.

Fredrick has a young child. That child has been asking where his father is. "We don't know where he is," Lucy said. "We don't know what condition he is in now. We hear that many have been killed in the fighting. So we are grieving too - because we do not know if our children are still alive or if they died there." 

She said she continues to search and to hope. And she had a message of her own for anyone still considering the same path her son took. "Better to stay home," she said, in tears. "Find whatever small work there is. Earn your 200 shillings. Be alive. See your people. Than to go there, be promised millions, and die there - and leave your people behind."

You Will Go There and You Will Die

Sheege closed his NTV interview with a direct address to anyone considering a similar offer. "Russians are liars," he said. "Even if you get there, you will not see the money. You will be sent to the fighting. And surviving that fighting is not easy. Stop thinking about going to Russia. You will go there and you will die."

A Safe Way Out

Kenyans and other foreign nationals lured into Russia's armed forces have an option to safely escape the batthefield with Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project. Find out more details about how Russia's army servicemen can save their lives here.