Photo: president.gov.ua
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has requested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky release Ghanaian citizens captured while fighting for Russia against Ukraine, Bloomberg reports.
Ablakwa said he recently visited Kyiv and held talks with Zelensky, during which he sought the humanitarian release of two Ghanaian prisoners of war. “We held productive discussions focused on Ghana’s appeal on humanitarian grounds regarding the release of our two citizens,” he said.
According to the nonprofit research organization Inpact, of 1,417 Africans identified as soldiers fighting for Russia, 234 are Ghanaian, making them the third-largest group after Egyptians and Cameroonians.
Zelensky confirmed that the meeting also addressed the broader issue of African nationals participating in the war against Ukraine. “We discussed in detail how Russia recruits citizens from Ghana and other African countries for the conflict, and how we can counter these efforts. Our teams will remain in contact regarding this issue,” he said.
Earlier, the Indian government reported at least 200 cases of its citizens being recruited by Russia, with at least 26 killed and seven missing in action.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on African countries to strengthen measures against Russian recruitment schemes, which target young people from across the continent to fight in Ukraine.
