Signing up for jobs in Russia, Germany or Dubai, young men have been ‘made to join the Russian military’, their families say
When Hemil Mangukiya left his small village in the Indian state of Gujarat last December, he told his family he was off to Russia to make a better living than was possible at home in India.
Lured by a recruitment video he had seen on YouTube, the 23-year-old had thought he was going for a secure security job far from the war in Ukraine. But in strained phone calls home from Russia, he told his family he was instead sent to a month-long military training camp and then taken to the frontlines, where he was made to dig trenches, carry ammunition and operate rifles and machine guns. Then, in late February, his calls abruptly stopped.
The call that came days later shattered his father’s heart: Mangukiya had died in a missile strike somewhere in Ukraine. “I think he hid from us the danger he was in,” said Ashwin Mangukiya, 52. “Our entire family is devastated by this. We are still trying to get back his dead body.”
Mangukiya’s death has shed light on the fate of dozens – by some estimates, hundreds – of Indians who have ended up on the frontlines of the Russia-Ukraine war against their will, after signing up for roles described as military helpers or security guards. In some cases, families say the men thought they were flying out for jobs in Dubai but then were sent on to Russia by agents….
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