Ukraine war: Nigerian and Senegalese soldiers killed, says Russia

The Russian Ministry of Defence says at least 42 African soldiers have been killed in Ukraine. Thirty-eight of them are believed to be Nigerian and four of them Senegalese, according to reports.

BBC Monitoring's Beverly Ochieng says that according to a Russian Ministry of Defence statement, the soldiers were fighting on the Ukrainian side, but it's unclear if any of the dead were African nationals who were already living and studying in the country at the time of the invasion, or if they were enlisted from African countries. She says at the start of the war, there were certain diplomats saying African countries should support the war, but that many believe that as the conflict has progressed, this is not a conflict the continent should be involved in.

Photo: A soldier in Irpin, Ukraine Credit: Getty Images