Moscow: They hoped for a better career but ended up in Russia's war factories. A new study reveals how young women, mainly from Africa, have been exploited. Some of those affected have shared their stories with DW. According to Deutsche Welle, Aminata, a 20-year-old from Sierra Leone, expressed her initial excitement about moving to Russia for an apprenticeship under the Alabuga Start program, which covers travel costs and provides dormitories for participants in the southwestern Russian industrial area. However, the reality for many, as revealed in a report by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, was that they found themselves in poor working conditions assembling cheap drones. DW reached out to several participants, but most feared speaking on record. Chinara, a young Nigerian woman, shared her experience via social media, stating that the program turned participants into hard laborers with low wages. Initially promised roles in logistics, service, and other fields, many women were instead assigned to drone assembly or cleaning tasks. The young women were exposed to dangerous chemicals, with Chinara noting that even Russians avoided long-term work in these conditions. The Alabuga SEZ, a significant production hub for Geran-2 drones, expanded its military production facilities after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. With labor shortages in war-torn Russia, migrant workers from the Global South have become recruitment targets. The SIISS reported over 111,000 African workers arrived in Russia in 2024, marking a significant increase since 2022. Many recruits, according to the GI study, were African women aged 18 to 22, with the program later expanding to other developing regions. The study's authors conducted around 60 interviews from December 2024 to March 2025. Co-author Julia Stanyard highlighted the exploitative conditions, long working hours, and health risks from chemical exposure. Stanyard also noted that girls as young as 16 were recruited by the Alabuga Polytech training facilit y for drone production. In Zimbabwe, parents express concern for their children enrolled in Alabuga, who report forced labor and withheld wages. A mother from Harare shared that her daughter's passport was confiscated, preventing her from leaving. Investigations into potential human trafficking have begun in Botswana, with Interpol probing the Alabuga Start program. Some nations, like Kenya and Tanzania, have become more cautious about the program's risks and have initiated their investigations. The Alabuga Start program did not respond to DW's request for comment. Garikai Mafirakureva in Zimbabwe and Aleksei Strelnikov contributed reporting to this article, which has been adapted from German.