Kenny Evans Ketebit says he was deceived to join the Russian army and go to Ukraine

With tears in his eyes, a young Kenyan athlete is now sponsored by the prisoner in Ukraine not to return him to Russia.

“I will die there,” says Evans Ketebit.

The 36 -year -old prisoner wears a red sporting summit. The brigade’s flag was installed behind it.

A ambitious runner for long distances says it is a deception to join the Russian army as it is desperate to return home to see his 16 -year -old daughter.

In a post on the video accompanying the video, the sixty -seventh infantry brigade of the motor effects said it is an example of how Russia dealt with foreign recruits, but he added that he was “fought alongside the enemy, so whether he believes that words and tears reach your appreciation.”

The brigade said that the interview was filmed with the approval of Kiebit, but the BBC was not verified. Although recruits from abroad in the Russian army did not hear about them, this is a rare case for a prisoner who speaks on the video.

Petro Yatnko, a spokeswoman for Ukraine in the BBC’s prisoners ‘prisoners, told the BBC that Somalion citizens, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka, among others, are currently being held in the Akranian prisoners’ camps.

He added: “Most of these individuals come from the poorest countries and end up on the Russian side in different ways. Some of them deceive – jobs he promised in factories – while others voluntarily join war. It is important to understand that a few of them are arrested alive; most of them are killed or seriously injured.”

Returning to Kenya, the Kibet family and their friends are shocked about what they saw.

After a long signing of a long pause, his cousin, Edith Cisoy BBC, told that she was re -playing the video again and again in her head.

“I am very shocked. I didn’t sleep at night. I don’t even know what to say.”

The younger brother of Kieit, Isaac Kepego, described him as a “humble man and a man with few words” in addition to a column and a family -resting advisor.

They know him as a person dedicated to his sport.

“I love running, I love running,” says Keetbet in the Ukrainian video. This was what he had prompted to become an unwanted Russian recruiter.

Kiebit has built his life around athletics, a sport that raised many Kenyans like him from villages to global recognition.

He grew up in an agricultural family from the Elgon Jabal area in West Kenya.

Kibet trained in Iten, the famous high -rise city of Olympic production and world champions, but in a competitive field never reached this situation. Instead, he competed in the least kilometers and a half of the marathon in Europe and Asia, according to the family and friends.

His younger brother said: “Kybet was running since he was a child.” “He was always talented. His life was running.”

But while the sport identified its identity, it did not achieve the financial penetration that it yearns for.

Friends say Kibet was struggling financially.

In March, the training partner, Elias Kibtom, was asked to help him in the race in Poland, but the team that was already running.

“I think this is the way it ended in Russia,” Kibtom told the BBC.

When, later in the year, a sports agent gave him a trip to Russia to participate in the races, Keeti took this opportunity. BBC calls to the agent to confirm that this has not been captured.

“He was very excited when he told me that he would race in Russia,” said Kikiti’s brother. “Even I was happy with him. We had great expectations.”

His cousin, Mrs. Chisoy, who took him to the bus park in the first leg of the trip at the end of July, said he was only carrying a “small bag.”

Ketebit told his family that he would only disappear for two weeks.

On the video filmed in Ukraine, Kiebit says he went to Russia as a visitor and not for a “military job”.

Then, after two weeks, he asked his host if he wanted to stay longer.

“I said,” Yes, but the problem is that my visa is over. “He said:” No, I can do something for you. Then he promised the job.

“In the evening, he came with some papers written in Russian. He told me:” This is the job that I want to do. “

“I did not know it was a military position.”

Ketebit says he then signed the papers and the man took his phone and passport.

“Thus everything happened … that the signature destroyed my life.”

According to Kibet, some other people appeared and told him to enter a car. Then they traveled for seven hours.

“I found myself in a military camp.”

Ketebit says he was informed that he participated in the army and that he had no choice.

I was told: “Either you go to fight or kill you.”

He says a week of the basic training that followed, during which he was shown on how to deal with an automatic rifle. None of his English leaders spoke, so the instructions came through motifs and gestures.

Kiebit insists that he had never participated in the fighting, then on his way to what could have been his first mission, got rid of his equipment and fled, and toured for two days through a forest near Fovshansk in the Ukraine region in northeastern Kharkiv.

Then he approached some Ukrainian soldiers.

“I went there with my hand,” he says repeat the camera gesture.

I said, “I am Kenny, please do not shoot at me. “

Everyone pointed to their guns, but I told them to calm down. I am here to save my life. “

Although the Kibet family is shocked on the video, there is some satisfaction that it is in the hands of the Ukrainians.

“We feel a little believed (with them) instead of being in Russia,” said his brother, Mr. Kepego.

The family asks the Kenyan authorities to intervene. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet responded to the request.

“If his country’s original government expresses his interest in returning it home, then Ukraine is open to negotiations on his transfer to the homeland,” said Ukrainian spokesman.

However, in his talk about other prisoners of war, he added that “most African countries show little attention to the return of these citizens and do not want to restore them.”

For my loved ones, their only priority is his safety.

His brother said: “If he makes a mistake, let them forgive him. We just want him.”