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.
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