Azamgarh: The ongoing war in Ukraine has a tragic connection to two districts in UP, where several young men were lured with promises of high-paying security guard jobs in Russia, only to be sent to the frontlines of the battlefield instead.
In 2024, nearly a dozen young men from Azamgarh and Mau left their homes with dreams of a better life for themselves and their families. They were promised security guard roles with salaries of Rs 2 lakh per month. However, after arriving in Russia, they were forced into military service. While three of the 13 men who went to Russia lost their lives in combat, two returned after sustaining injuries. The whereabouts of the remaining eight men are unknown reported NDTV.
Among the deceased are Kanhaiya Yadav from Azamgarh, and Shyamsundar and Sunil Yadav from Mau, all of whom perished in the conflict. Rakesh Yadav from Azamgarh and Brijesh Yadav from Mau managed to return after being injured in the war. The families of the eight missing men—Vinod Yadav, Yogendra Yadav, Arvind Yadav, Ramchandra, Azharuddin Khan, Humeshwar Prasad, Deepak, and Dhirendra Kumar—are desperately awaiting news.
In Khojapur village, Azamgarh, Yogendra Yadav’s family is consumed by grief. His younger brother, Ashish Yadav, claims that Yogendra was misled by an agent named Vinod Yadav. “Vinod Yadav promised him a job as a security guard but sent him to the Russian front instead,” Ashish said.
Yogendra, along with three other agents, left on January 15, 2024, and after reaching Russia, was forcibly trained and enlisted into the army. His family last spoke to him in May 2024, when he revealed he had been injured in the war. Since then, there has been no communication.
Azharuddin Khan’s mother, Nasreen, is similarly distraught. Her son, a primary earner, was promised a security job with a salary of Rs 2 lakh. “He left with agent Vinod on January 26, 2024. After a few months, he informed us that he had been sent to the battlefield,” Nasreen said. Azharuddin’s father died of a heart attack after hearing that his son had joined the Russian military.
