Ghanaian family hopes diplomacy will bring kin home from Ukraine

Ghana's government has said that at least 272 Ghanaians have been duped into fighting for Russia and some 55 killed, and promised a crackdown on illicit recruitment networks.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, more than 1,780 Africans from 36 countries have been identified as being among Russia's ranks.

Joshua Nkrumah, 35, left his pregnant wife in Dubai in July 2024 and travelled to Russia for what he believed was a private security job.

But, like a growing number of other Africans, he was instead drafted and deployed to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops arrested Nkrumah in September 2024 after he survived a drone attack on his unit. He is still in prison and his family has been unable to reach him since then.

"There are powerful countries involved in this conflict but behind the politics are families like mine. Families that cry quietly at night. Families that pretend to be strong during the day," Joshua Nkrumah's father, Albert, told AFP.

Ghana's Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, this week appealed to President Volodymyr Zelensky to release Nkrumah and another Ghanaian captured fighting for Russia.

Both men were said to be in good health.

Albert Nkrumah said: "We expect diplomacy that brings our children home.

"As a father, I live every day with a silent weight on my chest. I wake up and the first thing I think about is my son -- whether he has eaten, whether he is safe, whether he still has hope," he added.

"I just want my son alive and back home. That is all a father asks. Sometimes, I wonder if he's dead or alive."

"We are praying that the negotiations go through successfully," Joshua Nkrumah's sister Ophelia told AFP.

"This has been a very difficult period for our family, but today we feel a little lighter. We feel heard. We are waiting for the day we can welcome him home at Kotoka (International Airport in Accra) and hug him again."