David Kuloba's mother warned him about going to Russia after he accepted a job as a security guard advertised by a recruitment agency in Kenya.

At first the family, who live in the Kenyan capital's crowded informal settlement of Kibera, had been excited when he said he had found work abroad - it sounded like a rare break.

The 22-year-old had been doing casual labour in Nairobi - from selling groundnuts to construction jobs - and had long hoped to secure work in the Gulf.

But when his mother asked which country he was heading to, his reply shocked her.

He showed me his phone and said: 'Look, it's Russia,' Susan Kuloba recalled. I told him: 'Don't you see what they show on TV about Russia? It's never good.'

Despite her protests, he traveled to Russia in August without telling her the exact date of his departure.

She was shocked when he contacted her later, saying he had arrived and sending a photograph of himself in full combat uniform.

He told me: 'Mum, the job we were told we came to do has been changed, but even this one is not bad,' she said.

Her son explained that he and some other Kenyan men had been given two weeks of combat training - and he was heading to the battle zone in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022.

Within days, he told her that he and others had been ambushed. She pleaded with him to come home, but he felt bound by the contract.

On 4 October, David sent her a voice note saying he was about to go into battle and in case he did not survive, he wanted her to have details of his Russian military ID and contract, which was written in Russian.

That was the last time she heard from him. A friend later told her that David was believed to be dead.

Mrs. Kuloba sought help from authorities but received little support. The complications of recruitment agencies misleading youths with promises of better jobs have led to confusion and grief among families.

Kenya's foreign minister acknowledged that hundreds of Kenyans are thought to be fighting for Russia and that the government is investigating the unethical practices of recruitment agencies.

Terrified families are left waiting for news, grappling with loss and searching for answers as the reality of their loved ones’ recruitment haunts them.