Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Max Zander & Felix Maringa
00:41 Evans Kibet | Prisoner of war
01:19 Evans Kibet | Prisoner of war
02:16 Petro Yatsenko | Ukraine's Headquarters Treatment of Prisoners of War
02:49  Isaac Kipyego | Brother of Evans Kibet
04:13 Evans Kibet | Prisoner of war
05:00 Petro Yatsenko | Ukraine's Headquarters Treatment of Prisoners of War

Script:

00:00

((UGC video, interview Evans on Facebook or Insta))
For the Ukrainians who took him captive, Evans Kibet’s story was unusual enough to post on the brigade’s social channels. 

SOT
“I didn’t went Russia as a military job. I went there as a visitor.”

They had caught a 35-year-old athlete from Kenya.

((prison))
That was in July. Now he is here in this  Soviet-era prison in western Ukraine, being used to hold prisoners of war. 

Evans Kibet agreed to talk with us - but we cannot verify his story. 

During our conversation it's only our team and a civilian coordinator in the room. 

((Main Interview in living quarters))

+++SOT Evans Kibet, POW+++
“We signed this contract without reading, without knowing what it was on it. We got ourselves in a situation that there was no return.

He said this summer an agent made him an offer to go to St Petersburg for a cultural festival, to talk about athletic training, and run an exhibition race. 

. +++SOT Evans Kibet, POW+++
“This guy came up before the race and tell us, I can get you a working permit for one year.

He and the three other Kenyan athletes at the festival  signed up and handed over their passports. The next day they were taken away in a car.

+++SOT Evans Kibet, POW+++
 We asked him, where are you taking us? He told us, taking you where you are going to work. We tried to tell him, why you didn't tell us that it's a military work. He told us, you saw the contract. We didn't read it because we didn't know how to read the Russian language. 

They received a week of very basic training.

+++SOT Evans Kibet, POW+++
They show you this is a gun. This is how you load the magazine. This is how you pull the trigger. 

((Interview HUR))
The Ukrainian authorities have seen increasing numbers of foreigners fighting for Russia. They come from places including Cuba, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Egypt, China and Nepal. 

+++SOT Petro Yatsenko, Ukraine's Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War+++
“Part of them were familiar that they will go to Russian army, part of them were tricked by fraudsters and part of them already was in Russian territory as students, as workers, legal workers or illegal workers and they were promised they will obtain Russian passports in exchange to the signing of these contracts.”

((fields, countryside Kenya))
A world away, this Kenyan countryside near the city of Eldoret is where Evans Kibet grew up.
The oldest of seven siblings, he is the family’s main breadwinner. My colleague, Felix Maringa, went to meet them. Evans' younger brother, Isaac, says he’s sensitive and thoughtful. 

+++SOT Isaac Kipyego, Brother of Evans Kibet+++
He always cry, be it happiness or sadness. You always cry instead of beating somebody, maybe he can decide to cry. And then after crying, he find himself that he is released from from such things. 

((photos Evans))
Evans planned to run in half-marathons abroad, hoping prize money could support the family.  Like Kenyan Olympic marathon gold medallist Eliud Kipchoge, says his mother.

6:34 - 7:28
+++SOT Mom (Swhahili)+++
Kibet really wanted to run and that's why he kept trying to go for competitions abroad and I knew that one day he would elevate our standards of living, if he ran like Kipchoge, he would have rescued us from poverty the way Kipchoge has rescued his people.
The family now know he’s a POW, and worry. 
+++SOT Mom (Swhahili)+++
"When I eat with his siblings I wonder whether he has eaten or he ain't eating and it gives me a lot of pain...(sec 12 - cries)

((
Back in Ukraine. 
Evans Kibet insists he thought he’d be running a race, not facing the horrors of the frontline in Ukraine.  

+++SOT Evans Kibet, POW+++
“You go like 10 meters, you see a dead body. You die there, nobody cares about you. You die like a dog.”

He says he escaped during his very first mission. He got rid of his uniform and gun and walked until he came across soldiers. 

+++SOT Evans Kibet, POW+++
“So I didn't know, is it Ukraine soldiers or Russian soldiers? I call out, I shouted, hey, it's me. So these guys came out from their camp.”

At the prison now he is stuck in limbo. 
Between work and meals there’s nothing to do but wait.

Foreigners don’t get special treatment, even if they were duped into joining the Russian army. 

+++SOT Petro Yatsenko, Ukraine's Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War ENGLISH+++
“They are invaders they are part of this Russian invaders army and they are prisoners of war and in case their government not interested and this is a general case so they will be treated well in captivity, but they will be kept until the war ends.”

Evans family is trying to get the Kenyan government to intervene and bring him home before then. 

((phone call))
We get permission  to set up a call with  his brother Isaac back home in Kenya.

((Telephone call))
“This is my brother.” 
“How are you?” 
“I'm good. This is tears of joy, not that I'm not okay. It's good to see you.”
“How is Ukraine?” 
“It's good.”

It’s the first time they’ve spoken since he went to Russia.  

“How is mom?” 
“Mom is okay.” 

A moment of comfort in a grey prison cell far from home. 
+++END+++