WATCH | Misled to fight, now home: Families thank Ramaphosa after Ukraine rescue

Ukraine

Johannesburg – The families of four South African men rescued from Ukraine have expressed immense relief and gratitude after their safe return.

Misled into believing their loved ones were recruited for bodyguard training, they endured a “very difficult time” as the men were instead drawn into the conflict.

Relieved by the resolution, the families thanked President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Russian government for securing their safe return to OR Tambo International Airport.

They emphasised the importance of communication and the role of diplomacy in reuniting them with their loved ones.

“It’s been a very difficult time and difficult journey for the families because the parents were given a wrong narrative to say that these guys were hired to be trained as bodyguards but when they got that side, they were taken into a fight in Ukraine. What we are happy about is that we were able to communicate. We are happy that the president of the two countries –President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Putin – managed to come to a term and agree that these men must come back,” they told SABC News.

Their arrival comes days after Ramaphosa held talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on the return of South Africans caught up in the Ukraine war.

It was not immediately clear if the four were part of a group of 17 men the presidency previously said it was trying to bring home, AFP reported.


In November, Pretoria said it had received “distress calls” from 17 men who were trapped in the epicentre of the fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region after being tricked into joining mercenary groups.

South African law prohibits its citizens from fighting for a foreign country’s army without government authorisation.

The war sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has drawn in mercenaries on both sides, including from several African countries.

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