Jain Kurian, who returned from Russia, with his relatives at Cochin International Airport on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

Jain Kurian still can’t quite believe he’s back home. After months of pain, fear, and uncertainty, the 28-year-old man, who was forcibly enlisted into the Russian Army and injured in the Russia-Ukraine war zone, has finally returned to his home town Wadakkancherry on Thursday.

For the past three months, Jain had been recovering from war injuries at a hospital in Moscow. But his discharge came with a chilling twist — he was ordered to report back to his army unit, stationed far from the capital. “That meant one thing,” says Jain. “They were going to throw me back into the war. My attending physician gave an indication that the Russian military is likely to renew my contract, which has already been completed, without my consent,” he says.

Emergency certificate, ticket

What followed was nothing short of a high-stakes escape. Jain was in constant touch with the Indian Embassy and the Malayali Association in Russia. Together, they helped him find his way out. “They arranged emergency certificate and tickets for me. I escaped from there and reached the Moscow airport instead of going to the army camp,” Jain says.

“It was a deadly gamble—but I had no other choice,” he adds. “If I returned to that camp, they’d send me straight back to the war front. And I knew what that meant. I may face the same fate as my cousin, Binil Babu, who was killed in the war. ”

“Everything feels like a dream,”whispers Jain, his voice weak and trembling. He was just discharged from the Moscow hospital on Tuesday, after spending three gruelling months in recovery. “The doctor told me I needed at least a month of rest,” he says.

Drone strike

On January 7, while being moved toward the war front, a drone exploded near him. The shrapnel tore through his abdomen, causing severe internal bleeding. Jain underwent multiple surgeries.

Now safe in Wadakkanchery, Jain is finally beginning to breathe again. But the trauma of the war, the loss of his cousin, and the memories of his narrow escape still haunt him.

Jain, son of T.M. Kurian, was working as a mechanic at an auto shop in Ernakulam when he went to Russia with his cousin, Binil, in search of better luck for his family. A job racket promised them good jobs. On reaching there, the two young men were recruited to the Russian Army and given compulsory training. Initially they were tasked with supplying food to the soldiers and building trenches at the war front in Russia-occupied Ukraine. Later, they were sent for active war. Binil was killed in a drone attack, while Jain was severely injured.

Jain is among the youths who have fallen prey to illegal recruitment networks in Russia. Lured by the promise of good jobs and better wages, they end up trapped in the dangerous military operations on the Russia-Ukraine war front.