Lies, horror, trauma: Kenyans recount forced Russian recruitment

The Japan Times 

Charles Ojiambo Mutoka, 72, with portraits of his son Oscar, who he learned was killed in August, during a press conference where relatives of conscripts demanded urgent government action to repatriate their kin, in Nairobi on Jan. 27 | AFP-JIJI Nairobi - The scars on Victor's forearm remind him constantly of the day a Ukrainian drone attacked him after he was forcibly conscripted, like hundreds of young Kenyans, into the Russian military. It was a war that had nothing to do with him and which he was exceptionally lucky to survive. Four Kenyans -- Victor, Mark, Erik and Moses -- recounted the web of deception that took them to the killing fields of Ukraine. Their names have been changed for fear of reprisals. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.