Hyderabad: Telangana resident Mohammed Sufiyan, who worked as a support staff for the Russian army after being betrayed by an agent, returned home on September 14. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his return to the country. He still shudders remembering the horrors of the Russia-Ukraine war. For months, he was stuck along with others at the Russia-Ukraine border.

The horrific scenes of war were fresh in the mind.

He said that I still cannot believe that I have returned home. The horrific scenes of war are still fresh in my mind. Sufiyan said that he reached Russia in December 2023 via Chennai and Dubai after being promised a job as a security personnel by a Mumbai-based employment agent. However, he was taken to the Russia-Ukraine border and given training before being assigned tasks like loading vehicles and building bunkers.

Sufiyan and others like him realised they had been misled, but they could not establish contact with the main agent. He was moved closer to the front line. As the war progressed, his health deteriorated due to sleepless nights.

The central government helped

She was later moved to a green zone about 60 kilometres from the frontline in Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory. “We were in the jungle for eight months,” she said. She said the central government arranged for an air ticket for her to reach Delhi from Moscow.