Zimbabwe's information ministry announced on Wednesday that 15 of its citizens had been killed on "foreign battlefieds."

Ukraine said last month it had identified more than 1,780 citizens from 36 African countries fighting in Russian ranks.

Kenya's foreign minister, whose country is among the hardest hit by the phenomenon, said last week that Moscow had agreed to stop recruiting Kenyans.

"To date, 15 Zimbabwean nationals have lost their lives in foreign battlefields after being deceived into enlisting in foreign wars," Information Minister Soda Zhemu told journalists.

'Not legitimate military service'

He did not specify either the locations or the forces they had joined.

"This is not a matter of legitimate military service," he said.

"It is a sophisticated scheme of deception, exploitation, and human trafficking that has already resulted in the loss of Zimbabwean lives."

Kenyan intelligence services estimate that more than 1,000 of their nationals have been sent to the front in Ukraine in Russian uniform.

Repatriations

Only about 30 of them have been repatriated to Kenya, and many are believed to be dead.

Similarly, 272 Ghanaians have been "lured" into the war between Russia and Ukraine, with about 55 of whom believed to have been killed, according to Accra.

Sixteen South Africans have been repatriated by Pretoria, which believes that two have been killed.