NEW DELHI: An Indian has been killed fighting for Russia in its conflict with Ukraine even as more Indians, including seven from Punjab and Haryana, have appealed to the government to extricate them from the battlefield.
A video has gone viral on X in which a group of seven men from Punjab and Haryana claimed that they had gone to Russia to celebrate New Year, but were sent to the battlefield instead.
The seven Indians are Gagandeep Singh (24), Lovepreet Singh (24), Narain Singh (22), Gurpreet Singh (21), Gurpreet Singh (23), Harsh Kumar (20) and Abhishek Kumar (21). While five of them say they are from Punjab, the remaining two claim to be from Haryana.
As per their version, they arrived in Russia on December 27 to celebrate New Year and were taken around by a person, who then offered to take them to Belarus. “We were not aware we needed a visa. When we reached Belarus, the agent demanded more money and then abandoned us. The police caught us and handed us over to the Russian authorities, who made us sign some documents,” said the narrator, Gurpreet, who says he is from Gurdaspur. The first Indian mercenary death — of a 30-year-old man (Mohammed Asfan) from Hyderabad — was also confirmed by the Indian Embassy in Moscow, which said it was trying to get his remains transferred to his hometown of Hyderabad.
It was AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi who had raised the issue of 18 youths from Telangana being duped by travel agents into fighting for Russia.
Unconfirmed reports have also spoken of another 23-year-old Indian getting killed in a drone attack on a Russian army formation in Donetsk. According to media reports, the killed youngster, Hemil Ashvinbhai Mangukiya, was from Surat in Gujarat and died on February 21. There is no official confirmation about the death. The MEA has acknowledged that some youths were recruited by agents who had duped them into joining combat in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and said it had taken up this matter with the Russian authorities for their discharge.