A Hyderabad youth’s journey to war hell and back

Life took a harrowing turn for Telangana-born Mohd Sufiyan and three others from Karnataka when they arrived in Russia. Instead of the jobs they were promised, they were drafted into a private Russian army to fight Ukraine.
From forced 15-hour work shifts to bullets fired at them when they were exhausted, they recounted their harrowing months there.
They had to dig trenches and fire weapons. They were trained to fire Kalashnikovs such as the AK-12 and AK-74, along with hand grenades and other explosives.

But the toughest challenge was to stay connected from the rest of the world. Sufiyan and his companions recalled how they never knew with certainty where they were — or were being taken to — and were not allowed to communicate with their families in India.
The psychological toll of living in an alien war zone was immense on the men. Syed Ilias Hussaini, a resident of Kalaburagi in Karnataka, described the constant fear of being caught in the crossfire.
The only way to cope, the men said, was to pray and imagine a day when they would set foot back in India.
“We longed for the comfort of our families and the safety of our homes. The thought of never seeing them again haunted us every day,” Sufiyan said, tightly holding onto his brother Mohd Salman who, along with his father, and mother, were at the airport to receive him.

The sight of other “soldiers” dropping dead only added to their trauma. “Hamil, a very good friend of mine from Gujarat, was blown to death in a drone attack. He was part of a team of 24 soldiers, including one Indian and one Nepali. It shook me up,” recalled Sufiyan.
He added: “It was only after Hamil’s death that we told our families about our situation, who then requested external affairs minister S Jaishankar to rescue us from the warzone. I am glad to be able to see this day.”