YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Cameroon said on Monday that Russia has confirmed the deaths of 16 soldiers in Ukraine, according to a memo addressed to the Russian Embassy in the central African country.

In the memo addressed to the embassy, the country’s foreign affairs ministry acknowledged the death of 16 Cameroonian soldiers serving in the special military operations zone in Ukraine. The ministry said “necessary arrangements” had been made to contact the families of the deceased soldiers.

A separate message sent the same day invited the families of six other Cameroonian nationals living in Russia to come to the ministry for “urgent matters” concerning them. It did not give further information.

In March last year, Cameroon’s defense minister instructed the country’s various military high commands to take “strict emergency measures” to prevent further defections by active or retired Cameroonian soldiers.

Ukraine has said it believes more than 1,700 Africans have been recruited to fight for Russia, and several African nations have said some of their citizens have been tricked into fighting for Russia by offers of lucrative jobs or skills training.

An intelligence report presented to parliament in Kenya earlier this year said that 1,000 Kenyans were recruited to fight for Russia after being misled with false promises of jobs in the country before being sent to the front lines.

Two Nigerians were killed late last year fighting for Russia, Ukraine’s intelligence agency said this month.

Another AP investigation in 2024 found that African women were also duped into being part of the Russian war effort and sent to work in a factory assembling attack drones to be used against Ukraine. They were lured by social media adverts offering work-study programs.