A 23-year-old Zambian student, Lemekhani Nathan, who was convicted in Russia and serving a prison sentence on the outskirts of Moscow has been found dead in combat in Ukraine

Zambia said it had asked Russia to explain “the circumstances under which a 23-year-old Zambian citizen, who is serving a prison sentence in Moscow, could have been recruited to fight on the frontline in Ukraine battle and lost his life”.

A 23-year-old Zambian student who was convicted in Russia and serving a prison sentence on the outskirts of Moscow has been found dead in combat in Ukraine, the Zambian government said on Monday, demanding an explanation from Russia.

A 23-year-old Zambian student, Lemekhani Nathan, was killed in September in the Russia-Ukraine war. He had been serving a 9-year prison sentence in a Russian prison. Zambia is demanding to know how he ended up on the frontline, apparently fighting alongside Russian troops.

He “died on the battlefield”, according to the Zambian Foreign Ministry. The ministry demands to explain how a citizen of Zambia ended up in the war in Ukraine. He was taken to the war from a Russian prison where he served a term of 9.5 years.