Zimbabwe said on Wednesday that 15 of its nationals have been killed after being recruited into the war between Russia and Ukraine, as authorities warned of fraudulent schemes to lure recruits from several other African countries into the four-year-long conflict.

Information Minister Zhemu Soda told reporters in the capital, Harare, that the government is intensifying its diplomatic efforts to repatriate 66 other Zimbabweans still alive.

Besides Zimbabwe, African countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have reported similar cases of their nationals being deceived and sent to Russia with false promises of employment, before finding themselves on the front line of the conflict.

Zhemu Soda explained that the Zimbabwean victims had received misleading and lucrative job offers from "fraudulent" recruitment agencies, using "social media platforms as their main hunting ground".

He explained that this "scheme" involves victims being promised attractive wages and safe working conditions, but ending up deprived of their travel documents and "forced to actively participate in the fighting".

"They receive little or no training and are placed in life-threatening situations. When they are injured, killed, or captured, the recruiters disappear, leaving families in Zimbabwe with no information, no support, and no one to hold accountable. In many cases, the promised payment is never made," said Zhemu Soda.

This southern African country, which maintains close relations with Russia, is now working to ensure the return of survivors and the repatriation of the bodies of the deceased, the minister added.

Zimbabwe's announcement follows similar cases across Africa, where governments say their citizens were lured into the conflict by deceptive recruitment campaigns. A January report by the think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated that the conflict has claimed nearly 2 million lives.

In South Africa, police questioned 11 men who returned to the country in February after allegedly being recruited in Russia under the guise of security training. Authorities later confirmed that two South Africans had been killed in the conflict, while several others were injured or stranded.

A Kenyan intelligence report indicates that up to 1,000 Kenyans were recruited with promises of employment before being sent to the front lines in Ukraine. The report states that dozens have been wounded, are missing, or are still fighting, and that at least one Kenyan has died.

Ukrainian officials estimate that more than 1,700 Africans have been recruited to fight for Russia, while cases involving citizens of Nigeria and other countries have also been reported.

Investigations conducted by The Associated Press in 2024 revealed that recruitment networks targeted workers in Africa and Asia through social media ads and private agencies, offering work-study programs or civilian jobs that later turned into military contracts. Some recruits reported that their passports were confiscated and that they were forced to fight with little training.