African families’ heartbreak as young men trapped on Russian battlefields

Instead of celebrating her son’s birthday this month, Zimbabwean mother Rodwin Chitewere spent the day praying for his body to be brought home from Russia, where he was reportedly killed fighting Moscow’s war against Ukraine.In Botswana and South Africa, too, women are desperate for sons and husbands to return from a conflict many say they were duped into joining, as authorities warn recruiters are still active.Chitewere’s son, who would have turned 23, left with a cousin in April from a remote village in eastern Zimbabwe where he had been living with his grandmother.