JAPA: Nigerian Man Tricked into Russia’s Brutal War Zone, Captured, Begs for Tinubu’s Intervention

“…I was lucky to be captured by the Ukrainians. They are good people.”

By Emmanuel Kwada 

A harrowing tale of deception, survival, and desperation has emerged from the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine war, as a 32-year-old Nigerian man, Balogun Adisa Ridwan, now held as a prisoner of war by Ukrainian forces, publicly appeals to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for forgiveness and intervention to secure his return home.

Balogun, an aspiring engineer from Nigeria, left his country in search of better opportunities, traveling to Russia on a tourist visa with the promise of legitimate employment in his field.

Kenyan national Evans Kibet, captured while fighting for Russian forces on the Ukrainian front, at a detention center for Russian POWs in western Ukraine on November, 2025. Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP via Getty Images.

What he encountered instead was a systematic trap that transformed him from a job seeker into an unwilling combatant in one of the world’s most brutal conflicts.

According to an exclusive interview published by UNITED24 Media on February 12, 2026, Balogun arrived in Russia hopeful of securing work as a mechanic or engineer.

However, he was quickly directed to a military base, where recruiters pressured him and other foreigners to sign contracts written entirely in Russian.

Without access to a translator or permission to use phones for translation, he signed the document under the assumption it might align with his intended civilian job.

They didn’t allow us to use our phones to translate, so we signed our contracts.

“I didn’t understand the language,” Balogun recounted. “They didn’t allow us to use our phones to translate, so we signed our contracts. I told them already about my job. Maybe they were going to put me in my field. I didn’t know they would use me.”

The subsequent “training” was brief, chaotic, and inadequate—lasting only about 16 days rather than weeks.

Phones were confiscated again, isolating recruits from family and the outside world. Balogun described witnessing severe hardship among his fellow trainees, including an African recruit named Bubaka who suffered a heart attack during the process and was still forced forward despite pleading to be sent home, even offering to accept jail time as an alternative to deployment.

Deprived of communication and clear information, Balogun and others were abruptly sent to the front lines in eastern Ukraine’s frozen trenches.

I was lucky to be captured by the Ukrainians.

The conditions were dire: extreme cold, minimal preparation, and orders to simply obey for a short period before potential relief that never materialized.

Salvation came unexpectedly on January 13, 2026, near the city of Lyman in the Donetsk region. While positioned in a trench, Balogun and another misled recruit, Farid, spotted approaching soldiers and chose to surrender immediately, lying on the ground in submission. The troops turned out to be from Ukraine’s 117th Territorial Defense Brigade.

Balogun described his captors with profound gratitude. “They told us to stand up and go with them. Ukrainians did not harm us or hurt us. When we got to their base, we were welcome—giving us what to dress in, coffee, kept us in a warm place… They made sure we were ok, that we wouldn’t panic. They were really nice to us. I really appreciate that.”

He emphasized, “I was lucky to be captured by the Ukrainians. They are good people.”

Tragically, back in Nigeria, Balogun had already been declared dead. Reports from outlets like Daily Nigerian in February 2026 listed him among four Nigerians; Adam Anas, Akinlawon Tunde Kuyum (or Quyuum), Abugu Stanley Onyeka, and Balogun Ridwan Adisa—killed while fighting for Russia.

These men were said to have been lured under false pretenses of security jobs, subjected to minimal training, and deployed to the front, with news of their deaths circulating in private WhatsApp groups among African recruits. In reality, Balogun’s capture spared him that fate.

A man from Sierra Leone made POW after being captured by Ukraine as a foreign combatant within the Russian armed forces, takes part in a press conference organized by Ukrainian officials in Kyiv, on March 15, 2024. Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images.

Now in Ukrainian custody, Balogun faces a grim dilemma. Under Nigerian law, serving as a mercenary in a foreign conflict is a serious crime, potentially punishable by 10 years to life imprisonment. Yet he insists he was a victim of gross deception by Russian authorities, with no genuine intent to fight.

“I traveled to Russia on a tourist visa to find a job,” he stated. “The government of Russia grossly fooled me, turned me into a soldier, and sent me to war in Ukraine… I appeal to my government, to my president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Forgive your son. I left home to feed my family. It did not work out the way I wanted… The Russian government totally fooled me.”

The government of Russia grossly fooled me, turned me into a soldier, and sent me to war in Ukraine.

His account aligns with wider patterns documented by human rights groups, Ukrainian intelligence, and media.

Russia has reportedly recruited thousands of foreigners from dozens of countries, including over 1,400 from 36 African nations by promising civilian jobs or non-combat roles, only to thrust them unprepared into combat as expendable forces.

Initiatives like Ukraine’s “I Want to Live” project have compiled lists of nearly 17,000 foreign fighters in Russian ranks, with significant casualties reported.

I traveled to Russia on a tourist visa to find a job.

Governments worldwide, including those in Kenya, Botswana, Nepal, and others, have issued travel warnings and cracked down on deceptive recruitment agencies. Nigeria’s Federal Government has condemned such practices and warned against illegal recruitment into foreign conflicts.

Balogun’s plea underscores the human cost of these schemes: vulnerable individuals from economically challenged regions, seeking livelihoods abroad, ensnared in geopolitical warfare.

His survival through surrender offers a rare glimmer of hope amid stories of death and exploitation, but his future hinges on diplomatic intervention and legal mercy from his homeland. As the war grinds on, his story serves as a stark warning to others contemplating similar journeys to Russia in pursuit of work.

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