Keypoints:
- Kenyan athlete says he was tricked into Russian army
- Escaped and surrendered to Ukrainian soldiers
- Family urges Kenya to secure his release
WITH tears streaking his cheeks and his voice trembling, Evans Kibet leans toward the camera and pleads: ‘I will die there.’ The 36-year-old Kenyan athlete sits in a bare room, a red sports top his only splash of colour, the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine’s 57th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade pinned behind him. The video, released on Wednesday, captures a man who built his life around running but now finds himself trapped by a war he never sought.
The brigade said the interview was filmed with his consent, though the BBC, which first reported the story, has not independently confirmed that claim. ‘He fought on the side of the enemy,’ the brigade posted on Facebook, ‘so whether to believe the words and tears is up to your discretion.’
From Kenyan hills to Russian deception
Kibet grew up in the farming community of Mount Elgon in western Kenya, where children race each other along dusty tracks before sunrise. Running was his life from boyhood. ‘He’s always been talented. Running was his life,’ said his younger brother, Isaac Kipyego.
He trained in Iten, the high-altitude town that has produced world champions and Olympic medallists, but never quite broke into the top tier. Instead, he competed in modest 10km and half-marathon races across Europe and Asia, scraping together appearance fees and modest prize money.
Friends say financial worries weighed heavily. In March he sought a slot in a Polish race, but the team was already full. So when a sports agent later offered him a chance to race in Russia, Kibet saw a glimmer of the breakthrough he had long chased. ‘He was very excited,’ his brother recalled. ‘Even I was happy for him. We had high expectations.’
His cousin Edith Chesoi remembers seeing him off at a bus station in late July. He carried a small suitcase and promised to return in two weeks. ‘I am so traumatised. I didn’t sleep at night after seeing that video,’ she said.
A dream turned trap
In the Ukrainian video, Kibet describes how a seemingly routine visit turned into a nightmare. After his visa expired, his Russian host offered to extend his stay if he accepted a job. ‘In the evening, he came with some papers written in Russian,’ Kibet said. ‘I didn’t know it was a military job.’
His phone and passport were taken. A group of men drove him for seven hours to a remote camp where he was told: ‘Either you go to fight or we’ll kill you.’ He received a week of rudimentary training with an automatic rifle, instructions barked in a language he barely understood.
Kibet insists he never fired a shot. On the way to his first mission, he slipped away, wandering for two days through a forest near Vovchansk in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region before surrendering to Ukrainian soldiers with his hands raised. ‘I said: “I am a Kenyan, please don’t shoot me,”’ he recalled, demonstrating the gesture for the camera.
Foreign fighters in a distant war
Kibet’s ordeal highlights a little-seen dimension of the conflict. Petro Yatsenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s prisoner-of-war agency, told the BBC that captives from Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka are among those held. Many, he said, are deceived by false job offers; others volunteer out of desperation. ‘Very few are captured alive; most are either killed or seriously injured,’ Yatsenko said.
He added that Ukraine is willing to negotiate Kibet’s return if Kenya requests it. Yet many African governments, he noted, ‘show little interest in the return of such citizens’. Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not commented.
Family clings to hope
For Kibet’s relatives, relief mingles with fear. ‘We feel that he’s a bit safe [with Ukrainians] rather than being in Russia,’ said his brother Isaac. They now urge Nairobi to intervene quickly. ‘If he made a mistake, let them forgive him. We only want him back.’
Neighbours in Mount Elgon speak of Kibet as a quiet man with an indomitable spirit, the sort who rose before dawn to chase miles of rough mountain paths. To them, the idea of him carrying a weapon is unthinkable.
A cautionary tale
Kibet’s journey from the cloud-kissed trails of Iten to a Ukrainian prison cell is a stark reminder of how ambition and economic pressure can leave athletes vulnerable to exploitation. He remains a symbol of perseverance, yet his story is now a cautionary tale for those chasing opportunity abroad without the safety nets of strong support systems.
Whether Kenya will act to bring him home remains uncertain. For now, his family waits, replaying that haunting video of a runner whose only wish is to live.
