When his wife gave birth to a son in December 2023, Aazad Yousuf Kumar promised that he would find a good job, better than that of his father, a poor laborer from Kashmir. Desperate to work in India, the 31-year-old had contacted Baba Vlogs, a Dubai-based employment agency, at the end of the year. Aazad left his home in Poshwan, Pulwama district, for Dubai on December 14, 2023, just a few weeks after his wife gave birth.
The science graduate had seen a Baba Vlogs promotional video on YouTube offering jobs in Dubai to people like himself. Sajad Ahmad Kumar, his elder brother, contacted by Le Monde, said that Aazad had been offered a job as a hotel assistant. "We lost touch with him initially. When he eventually phoned us after about 20 days, he told us that he had been tricked and taken to an unknown place in Russia, where he had received weapons training for a fortnight, along with a dozen other Indians," confided Sajad.
During his training period, Aazad injured his foot and was hospitalized for around 20 days. "Once his injury had healed, he was deployed near the front line with the Russian army," recounted his brother. "I spoke to him on December 26. He was crying non-stop. He told me he wanted to go home."
His mother, Raja Bano, a housewife, insisted that her son was happy to have found a job in Dubai. "I learned that he was on the border between Russia and Ukraine, in a hostile situation. He told me he was trapped and there was no way for him to get home," she explained between sobs. Her son was locked in a room by Russian military for several days after he refused to join the army. According to his father, Mohammad Yousuf Kumar, the Russians confiscated his cell phone and those of a dozen Indians who were with him when they landed in Moscow in January. "They were asked to sign documents written in Russian. The Russians threatened to kill them if they didn't sign. My son doesn't understand Russian. How could he know what was written on the paper?" Mohammad raged.
Aazad is one of a group of Indians sent against their will to fight against Ukraine alongside the Russian army. The daily The Hindu revealed this information on February 20 and, after several days of silence, it was confirmed by India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Around 20 Indian citizens – farmers, workers, students and the unemployed – from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Kashmir, lured by well-paid jobs, have been stranded since November 2023 in the regions of Kharkiv, Mariupol, Rostov and Donetsk, along the border between Russia and Ukraine. A 23-year-old Gujarati Indian was reportedly killed by a missile strike.
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