Russia has agreed to stop recruiting Kenyan citizens to fight with its army in Ukraine, Kenya’s foreign minister said on Monday after talks with his Russian counterpart in Moscow. Since ordering troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been widely accused of recruiting people from other nationalities to fight alongside its army. Lavrov said Kenyan citizens had voluntarily signed contracts to fight alongside the Russian army. Sobyanin also said on Telegram that air defence units had shot down about 250 Ukrainian drones approaching Moscow over the previous two days. It added that its air defence units had downed 194 Russian drones out of 211 launched overnight and into Monday.

Source: The Guardian March 17, 2026 20:19 UTC