No communication yet on Gujarat man held in Ukraine

India has got no official communication from Kyiv regarding 22-year-old Indian student Majoti Sahil Mohamed Hussein, who was captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting for the Russian army.

Conflicting versions have emerged as to why and how Hussein, who hails from Gujarat’s Morbi, joined the Russian army in the first place.

Sources said the Indian mission in Kyiv had sought information from Ukraine about Hussein, but there had been no response till Thursday evening. Ukraine would probably inform Moscow first if Hussein was being treated as a prisoner of war, the sources said. Information to India may come from Moscow also.

Hussein’s family has appealed to the Indian Government for his safe return.

The sources said Hussein might have joined the Russian army, like those students who had been lured to join in lieu of a waiver from attending classes or success in examinations.

However, in a video released by Ukraine’s 63rd Mechanised Brigade, Hussein, speaking in the local language, said he was a student at a university and was sent to jail for drug use. “They gave me a seven-year jail term, but I didn’t want it. I did not want to stay in prison, so I signed a contract for the ‘special military operation’ (Russia’s term for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine). But I wanted to get out of there."

Hussein said he surrendered to Ukrainian soldiers.

Meanwhile his uncle, Abdul Ibrahim, while speaking with reporters in Gujarat, said, “We appeal to the government to bring him back."

India