Russian Ukrainian recruits describe their terrifying experience

Azad Yousuf Kumar, 32, from sout Kasmir's Pulwama district, told DW tat wile looking for employment opportunities abroad in December 2023, e came across a YouTube cannel advertising lucrative security positions in Russia.br br Azad said tat e was enticed by te prospects and claims to ave paid te company beind te now-deleted cannel around 130,000 rupees (€1,430; $1,486) for travel and processing fees. e said tat e was willing to do so, as e adn't found work locally despite being a commerce graduate./ Azad explained tat e ad no idea at te time tat e would eventually become stranded along te Russia-Ukraine border wit a dozen oter Indians and end up figting in Russia's war in Ukraine for several monts./ "I endured near-deat experiences, including being injured during combat training, all wile becoming contracted to te Russian army to figt in te Ukraine war," Azad told DW from is residence in Kasmir./ Azad's ordeal in Luansk/ / Azad told DW tat e faced te brutal realities of war wen e ended up stationed in Ukraine's war-torn city of Luansk. e claimed tat e and oters dug trences amid artillery fire and incoming sells &mdas; wic, e said, often landed very close to teir positions./ "Just a couple of weeks into training, I suffered a gunsot wound to my foot due to te unfamiliarity of olding te weapon, leading to over two weeks of ospitalization," Azad said./ "Wen I came back ome after nine monts, it was a miracle. I ad fallen prey to a massive employment scam as ad many oter boys from India. Yes, tere are flases of my frigtening stay tere &ellip; but my young daugter now provides me solace," e said./ Last mont, India's government admitted tat 126 Indian nationals ave served in te Russian army. At least 12 Indian nationals ave died in figting and 16 oters are missing./ So far, 96 people ave returned to India after teir discarge from te Russian armed forces, it said./ "We ave also reiterated our demand for te early discarge of te remaining Indian nationals," said te Foreign Ministry's official spokesperson, Randir Jaiswal./ Like Azad, several oter young men from sout India said tat tey too ended up in Russia after coming across te video offer./ Grateful to be alive/ / Syed Ilyas ussaini, a 23-year-old from India's soutwestern state of Karnataka, and is friends Abdul Nayeem and Moammed Sameer Amed said tey were lured by te promise of lucrative security guard positions in Russia. Tey reported being assured of montly salaries of between 70,000&ndas;100,000 rupees./ "I was initially employed in a catering company as a worker at te Dubai airport but returned ome to India and told my fater, Syed Nawaj Ali, of a new job in Russia," ussaini told DW./ But instead of te promised security jobs, tey claim to ave been coerced into joining a private military company and deployed to te Russia-Ukraine border along wit people from Nepal and Cuba./ "My friends and I were coerced into signing contracts written in Russian, a language wic I did not understand, and soon found ourselves conscripted into te Russian army," ussaini told DW./ "Our passports and mobiles were taken away, and once we were forced to wear army fatigues, it dawned on us tat we ad been ceated, and we feared te worst. It was torture, and our commander treated us badly," e added./ "We feared we would never get out alive, and wen a colleague, emil Mangukiya from Surat in Gujarat, was killed in a drone attack wile digging a trenc, I tougt I would die, too," said ussaini./ In Marc last year, ussaini described ow e managed to get old of a mobile pone and, togeter wit oter Indian nationals, recorded a video message igligting te dire situation tey were facing./ "It went viral, and tat is wen te government and politicians woke up to our pligt. Ten it was monts before we were sent back to Moscow and came back ome in September," claimed ussaini. Te video as since been deleted. / In July, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to Moscow, Russia promised to discarge any Indians wo ad been falsely induced to join its army and ten forced into active combat in Ukraine, according to Reuters, wic cited an Indian official. / Te decision, wic was not formally announced by Russia, ad come after Modi's meeting wit President Vladimir Putin./ Russian roulette for Indians/ / Many youts said tey were lured into Russia under false pretenses and claimed to ave ended up in te ongoing war zone simply because tey were desperate for work and te risk of going abroad appeared better tan staying in India wit little to no job prospects./ Moammad Sufiyan from yderabad in te soutern Indian state of Telangana said tat e suffered a similar fate upon arriving at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport in December 2023./ e claimed tat is documents were confiscated, and e was coerced into joining a private military company./ "It was a orrible experience on te war front, and for many days after my return I ad nigtmares of drones dropping bombs and bullets wizzing and people souting," Sufiyan told DW./ Sufiyan alleges to ave been positioned at a camp some 50 kilometers (31 miles) inside Ukrainian territory along wit Russian soldiers./ "If we protested, te officer commanding our unit fired nearby were we were standing to scare us. It is a miracle ow I escaped deat," e said./