Yurii Tokar: Russia deployed Kenyans to death zone
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Russians collected all Kenyans and did everything for them to go to the front line, to go to the death zone.”
Waihiga Mwaura speaks to Yurii Tokar the Ukraine ambassador to Kenya. The Ukrainian claims Russia deliberately deployed many conscripted Kenyans to the front line of the Russia-Ukraine war shortly before the Kenyan foreign minister arrived in Moscow with the intention of stopping recruitment of his countrymen.
The Russian embassy in Kenya did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment. It has previously denied any Government involvement in the illegal recruitment of Kenyan citizens. A representative of Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the BBC that "the government is not aware of such allegations and treats them as possible rumours and propaganda.”
Thank you to the Focus on Africa team for its help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with John Healey, Nadia Calviño and Volodymyr Zelensky. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Waihiga Mwaura Producer: Cordelia Hemming Editor: Damon Rose
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(Image: Yurii Tokar. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.8 | Hello, I'm Wahiga Muawara, presenter of Focus on Africa, and this is the interview from the BBC World Service, |
| 0:12.7 | the best conversations coming out of the BBC, people shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:21.1 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:25.8 | We have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:29.4 | Do not make that boat crossing. |
| 0:30.9 | Do not make that journey. |
| 0:32.1 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not. |
| 0:36.2 | We're more popular than populism. |
| 0:39.7 | For this interview, I met with Ukraine's ambassador to Kenya, Yuri Toka. |
| 0:43.9 | He claimed that Russia deliberately deployed many conscripted Kenyans to the front line. |
| 0:49.9 | Shortly before, Kenya's foreign minister visited Moscow with the aim of halting such recruitment of Kenyans to the Russia-Ukraine war. |
| 0:58.7 | He said the claim is based on information from a Ukrainian-backed project that is encouraging soldiers to desert the Russian army. |
| 1:07.7 | The Russian embassy in Kenya did not immediately respond to the BBC's request for comment. |
| 1:12.7 | It has previously denied any government involvement in the illegal recruitment of Kenyan citizens. |
| 1:18.7 | A representative of Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the BBC that the government is not |
| 1:23.8 | aware of such allegations and treats them as possible rumors and propaganda. |
| 1:29.4 | Kenya's foreign minister recently told a parliamentary committee that they are working to ensure |
| 1:33.8 | the safety of nationals and to prevent further illegal recruitment. |
| 1:38.8 | But Ambassador Tokar claims that Kenyans are being treated as expendable. |
| 1:42.8 | So they were sent to the front line to the most dangerous parts of the front line, |
| 1:49.0 | to the most dangerous places, with aim to do the job and to disappear. |
... |
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