Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa
A Ghanaian national has been captured by Ukrainian forces during an engagement with their Russian counterparts in the ongoing war between the two countries.
The Ghanaian national’s identity has, however, been withheld, and is being held as a prisoner-of-war.
Ghana has raised diplomatic concern about the development to which Ukraine has responded favourably.
Following the foregone, Ukraine has invited Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to Kyiv, assuring him of access to the prisoner-of-war next month.
The invitation followed an earlier tweet on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 by Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his response to Ghana’s request for the return of the Ghanaian citizen who was fighting as a mercenary on the side of Russia.
The Ukrainian minister pledged to have his Ghanaian counterpart and others unfettered access to their compatriots under international humanitarian law.
“Ghanaian diplomats will be granted access to prisoners of war upon their request, and we stand ready to discuss this issue in a substantive manner,” he said.
The veracity of the prisoner-of-war has been established and, according to initial evidence as stated by the minister, the Ghanaian arrived in Moscow, Russia, on July 7, 2024, where he reportedly signed a contract to join the 2nd Assault Company of the 71st Motorised Rifle Regiment under the 42nd Motorised Rifle Division. He has reportedly seen action in the Zaporizhzhia region before being captured.
Minister Ablakwa had earlier met with the Acting Ambassador of Ukraine to Ghana, Ivan Lukachuk, to formally appeal for the detainee’s release. In the coming weeks, it has been reported that Ablakwa will travel to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, in furtherance of the request for the release of the Ghanaian prisoner-of-war.
In a related development, the South African government has also engaged with their Russian counterpart about the return of 17 of her citizens captured as they fought on the side of Russia.
The men were allegedly tricked on to the frontlines of the war by a daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma.
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has been accused in multiple lawsuits of luring the 17 South African and two Botswanan men to Russia in July, by telling them they would be training as bodyguards for her father’s uMkhonto weSizwe political party or attending a personal development course.
Vincent Magwenya, a spokesperson for South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said: “The process to retrieve those young men remains a very sensitive process. They are in a dangerous environment. They are facing grave, grave danger to their lives and we are still in discussions with various authorities, both in Russia as well as in Ukraine, to see how we can free them from the situation they are in.
“In fact, the emphasis is more with the authorities in Russia and less so with the authorities in the Ukraine, because the information that we have is that they were bungled into the Russian military forces,” he said, in answer to a reporter’s question at a press briefing.