Ukraine has flagged the death of another Nigerian reportedly killed while fighting against Ukrainian forces as a Russian mercenary.
In a statement on Thursday, Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence identified the Nigerian as Ayebusiwa Olabode Victor, born on April 28, 1992.
Victor was said to hail from Ilutitun in Ondo state.
The front page of the Nigerian’s passport was attached to the statement.
Ukrainian authorities said he was killed in the Kharkiv region near the settlement of Hrafske.
According to the statement, Victor signed the mercenary contract late February — just one week after Nigeria’s ministry of foreign affairs warned citizens against illegal recruitment into foreign armed conflicts, citing rising cases of Nigerians allegedly being lured abroad under false pretences and forced into combat roles.
Before the warning, Ukraine said it discovered the bodies of two Nigerians in its Luhansk region, who were allegedly fighting on Russia’s side in the ongoing four-year war.
Russia has repeatedly denied allegations of covertly recruiting Nigerians and other Africans for the war, calling them unfounded.
“However, official moscow propaganda tells a different story. Mikhail Zvinchuk, a pro-war z-propagandist closely associated with the russian ministry of defense, publicly described the recruitment scheme for the war against Ukraine on the channel of one of the kremlin’s main propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov,” the Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence statement reads.
“He confirmed that residents of African countries are lured to Russia through fake job s distributed via Facebook and WhatsApp.
“Victims are issued visas, provided one-way tickets, and promised employment. Upon arrival in moscow, they are met by an intermediary who confiscates their passports under the pretext of processing documents and places them in hostels.
“Within days, they discover that no job exists, their visas have been canceled, and they have no money to return home.
“They are then given a choice: deportation with debt, imprisonment, or signing a contract with the occupation army — the contents of which they often do not even understand due to the language barrier.”
According to Ukrainian authorities, at least 215 Nigerians have signed contracts with the Russian ministry of defence, with no fewer than 25 of them killed or considered missing in action.
The statement said despite denials by Russian diplomats, the number of Nigerian mercenaries in the ranks of the occupation forces continues to grow.
