What happens when young men leave home for opportunity and are turned into cannon fodder in a foreign war?

In this episode of Panel 54, Waweru Njoroge and Ndu Okoh sit down with a Kenyan father ,David Mutai, searching for his missing son, Felix Mutai, and a returnee, Peter Njenga, who survived warzone and combat, to examine a growing and underreported crisis: African men being recruited into the Russia–Ukraine conflict.

The conversation traces how informal recruitment networks, false job promises, and economic pressure are drawing African men into Russian-linked military pipelines. Through firsthand testimony, the episode shows how contracts become combat, how opportunity becomes survival, and how quickly individuals lose control of their fate once inside the system.At the heart of the discussion is a brutal reality.

Russia is turning vulnerable African recruits into cannon fodder, underpaid, poorly supported, and pushed into some of the most dangerous frontline positions. Families back home are left with silence, uncertainty, and the burden of not knowing whether their sons are alive, captured, or dead.

From Africa to the frontlines, this is a story about power, exploitation, and the hidden ways the continent is pulled into wars it did not choose.A deeply human conversation about loss, survival, and the cost of global conflict.

Lagos to Lamu. Cape Town to Cairo.

This is Panel 54 — a global perspective through an African lens.

📩 Contact: [email protected]

🎙 Recorded in Africa

🎧 Produced by Commex Africa and E & C Talent

ᴰᶦˢᶜˡᵃᶦᵐᵉʳ: ᵀʰᵉ ᵛᶦᵉʷˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵒᵖᶦⁿᶦᵒⁿˢ ᵉˣᵖʳᵉˢˢᵉᵈ ᶦⁿ ᵗʰᶦˢ ᵉᵖᶦˢᵒᵈᵉ ᵃʳᵉ ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ᵍᵘᵉˢᵗˢ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵈᵒ ⁿᵒᵗ ⁿᵉᶜᵉˢˢᵃʳᶦˡʸ ʳᵉᶠˡᵉᶜᵗ ᵗʰᵒˢᵉ ᵒᶠ ᴾᵃⁿᵉˡ ⁵⁴, ᶦᵗˢ ʰᵒˢᵗˢ, ᵒʳ ᶦᵗˢ ᵖʳᵒᵈᵘᶜᵉʳˢ.