ACCRA, Ghana — Ghana says at least 55 of its citizens have been killed after being lured into fighting for Russia in the war in Ukraine, in one of the highest officially confirmed death tolls reported by an African country since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began. Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa disclosed the figure after traveling to Kyiv to discuss the fate of two Ghanaian prisoners of war captured on the front line.
Ablakwa said Ukrainian authorities had informed him that 272 Ghanaians had been drawn into the conflict since 2022, and that many were victims of “manipulation, misinformation and criminal trafficking networks.” He said the Ghanaian government is now committed to tracking and dismantling illegal recruitment schemes, including operations allegedly working through the dark web. The case adds Ghana to a growing list of African countries confronting the fallout from deceptive recruitment pipelines feeding the Russian war effort. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said this week that more than 1,780 Africans from 36 countries are currently fighting in the Russian army, and alleged that many had been tricked with promises of ordinary civilian jobs. Russia has denied illegally recruiting African citizens for combat.
According to Ablakwa, many of those recruited had no prior military or security background and were promised work or training opportunities before being sent to the battlefield. The two captured Ghanaians have since urged other young Africans not to be tempted by the money on offer, warning that they were turned into pawns in a foreign war. The issue is becoming a wider diplomatic problem across the continent. AP reported that Kenya recently said about 1,000 of its citizens had been recruited to fight for Russia after being misled with job offers, while South Africa has been investigating separate allegations involving recruitment of its nationals.
The International Crisis Group said this week that the scandal shows the Ukraine war is “no longer a distant geopolitical issue for African governments,” warning that as more African citizens become directly entangled in the conflict, leaders may face increasing domestic pressure that complicates long-standing positions of non-alignment
