How a Ghanaian fireman ended up fighting in Ukraine: a tale of dreams deferred, deception, and the harsh price of desperation.

Behind the towering white walls topped with rolls of barbed wire under the glaring eyes of security cameras, a lone figure shuffles slowly across the cracked concrete yard of a fortified prison in western Ukraine.

During my trip to Ukraine, I was granted rare access to a detention facility holding prisoners of war. There, I met Joshua — a Ghanaian who had been fighting on the Russian side. His story deeply moved me. His only request was for me to use my article to let his wife and parents know that he is still alive. They haven’t heard from him since his capture in September 2024.

How to break the news to his parents and wife that their breadwinner has been captured has been weighing on me ever since I returned.

“I want my wife, Sally, who is currently in Dubai, to know that I am alive,” he told The Africa Report during our exclusive visit to the detention centre.

“I feel so bad that I left her in that state — five months pregnant — and I don’t even know what is happening to her. I know everyone must be asking her, ‘Where is your husband? Where is your child’s father?’ Sally, I am not dead. I want to use this medium to let you know that I am strong and will come out strong. We shall meet again.”

Picture: Joshua writing a note for me to deliver to his family back in Ghana. You can read the full story in the link shared in the comment section.

• — Kent Mensah