A mother's call: Bring my son back home from Russia

Long before marriage and the birth of her son, she was an athlete who competed with internationally acclaimed Tecla Lorupe. While Lorupe was from West Pokot, she was from Mt Elgon - Bungoma.

At school, she was a hero doing well in all her races in the Elgon district through to national schools’ competitions and later in several national races in Ngong.

Now in her late 60s, Jane Muneria, mother to Kenya’s Prisoner of War in Ukraine Evans Kibet, only needs to close her eyes and the ringing sounds of cheers during races will flow back. She has kept taking part in races. Last year during the wazee competition staged in the Elgon Sub-County, Bungoma, she emerged second best.

Speaking to The Standard from her home in Kipchiria village of Kapsokwony, such reflections, which she has nursed over the years, have been replaced by a longing emanating from the precarious situation that her son has found himself in; The intrigues of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Memories of her son’s dream have kept coming to her, especially because he was her first child who closed her own athletics dream as motherhood tied her to family. In his teenage Kibet showed signs of growing into an athlete; she was sure he would turn into a great runner and would lift his family from the grinding struggle that is obvious to any eye that scans the humble homestead today.

“He went to Uganda and competed there. He also did in Tanzania. He tried hard to leave the country but did not succeed,” Muneria says. “He made serious attempts to obtain a visa, but it proved difficult. Whenever he reached Nairobi —he would be told to turn back.”

 “Just recently, in July, 2025 (it was July, because I haven't seen my child for a year now) The 27^th 2026 marked a full year since I last saw my child's face.... he told us that a friend had invited him to go to Russia.”

Made up of modest mud walled houses standing among scattered trees, surrounded by a handful of dairy cows, goats and chicken the family to which Kenya’s Prisoner of war in Ukraine comes from tells the story of want.

Unknown to the family, and to many Kenyans and the populations of the Global South, Russia’s war against Ukraine has been making use of people from such backgrounds. Some are recruited willfully, while others through deception, as was the case with Kibet. He got to Russia on a tourist visa seeking opportunities to make a living through jobs and athletics

With two days remaining for his visa to expire an individual who had accommodated him and four other sportsmen offered them forms written in Russian language to sign. The following day they were shipped to a camp more than 600kms from St Petersburg.

He left on the 27^th July 2025, says his mother  “We waited for about two weeks—or something like that—but there was total silence; we didn't hear from him, and he didn't even call to let us know how he was doing; he just went quiet. After that time passed, he finally told us, "I see things are difficult here..."

The family's small livestock and subsistence farming provide little income, making survival a daily struggle. Yet the greatest burden they carry is not that of want, but the painful absence of their firstborn son- the 37-year-old athlete.

From the long spells of silence after Kibet confirmed that things weren’t good for him in Russia, Ukrainian authorities reported having captured him and that he was now a prisoner of war. That for her was the beginning of sleepless nights.

“Even when I sit—or try to sleep—just as I drift off, I suddenly find myself weeping.” Muneria tells The Standard team.

“I think about how we used to be together at home; I find myself wishing Kibe had known—wishing he had stayed home with his siblings. We used to be together—even if there was nothing to eat, we were all there as a family.”

For more than a year, the family has lived between hope and despair. She recalls that Kibet informed them that he had secured an opportunity to travel to Russia for athletics after being linked by a friend.

"Evans is my firstborn. I raised him the church, and as a Seventh-day Adventist mother, I never imagined our family would go through this. Athletics was his passion. He trained in Iten and competed in Tanzania and Uganda as he worked hard to build an international career. Today, all we ask is for our son to come home alive," she said.

In a desperate plea to authorities, the mother even invokes the coming elections in her frail call to President William Ruto.

“I simply ask the Kenyan government to listen to us—Leonard Masai’s family” She implores.  “When our son eventually returns home—and I say *when* he comes back—he will be casting a vote in the 2027 election; his vote matters, because a single person can bring you down, and Kibe will be there to vote in 2027—his vote is needed....just one person can help to beat the president in the vote—so he should simply try to bring Kibe back to cast a vote for him...”

Muneria says her husband Leonard Sullo, had been unwell before his son’s misfortune. He has had problems in his legs since an accident he sustained in the 1990s – now and then his health wavers and he needs medical attention.

“His condition worsened after news that Kibet had been captured by Ukrainian forces….,” says Muneria, “that’s when he fell critically ill—to the point where a wound on his leg erupted violently. It had reached a stage where amputation was being considered—the leg had turned black—but now, finally, the wound has started to heal a little.”

Sullo, 67, walks with difficulty. Scars from that the road accident still linger. Unable to continue working after, he says he could not afford to educate Kibet beyond Standard Eight.

"After my accident, life changed completely. Evans became the hope of our family because of his athletics. I didn't even know when he left for Russia until later. We were told that when he was already there and his phone had been taken away." Sullo said.

According to Sullo, Kibet later encountered Ukrainian soldiers during combat and surrendered.

"We thank God he was still wearing sports clothing when he surrendered. Had he been dressed in military combat gear, perhaps he would not be alive today. I am diabetic and hypertensive, and this situation has robbed me of sleep. My appeal to President William Ruto is simple please intervene and bring our son back home."