How an African Student Was Drawn Into Russia's War and Left Behind

After failed visa attempts in Canada and France, he turned to Russia, drawn by promises of cheap tuition and a better future.

But once there, everything changed.

In this exclusive interview, Dosseh reveals how Russia lures vulnerable African students and workers with false promises, then sends them to the battlefield as disposable pawns.

“They told me I could work as a patrol officer,” he says. “But the day we went to ask for information, they had already been watching us. They made us sign that same day—without understanding the language. Later, we were told it was a war contract.”

Dosseh was thrown into Russia’s war with no training, no support, and no way out. On his very first mission, he was captured.

“Within 10 to 15 minutes, four people died. It was brutal. It was inhumane. Since then, I can’t sleep.”

“At the last moment, it felt like betrayal. I don’t speak Russian, I can’t read it. There were others who were stronger, who spoke the language—they stayed behind. But they sent me. It felt like they were sending me to be sacrificed.”

Now a prisoner of war in Ukraine, Dosseh faces possible amputation and trial—abandoned by Russia, and forgotten by his own country.

“Until now, those in Togo, I don’t think they even know I’m still alive. For them, I’m dead.”

“We know that persons like him are not needed in the country where he became a soldier. So Russia doesn't need him. And his country of origin also doesn't need him. So Ukraine doesn't need him, too. So people like him are in a very vulnerable position,” Petro Yatsenko, Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War spokesperson, said.

Watch this exclusive testimony to uncover the brutal truth of how foreign recruits are lured, used, and discarded in Russia’s war machine.

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