Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces in the Kursk region. President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the soldiers, who were wounded, received medical care under the Geneva Convention and were transported to Kyiv for interrogation. The Ukrainian government highlighted the unprecedented nature of capturing foreign soldiers in the conflict, with potential leverage to pressure Russia through China. Reports suggest approximately 11,000 North Korean troops have been deployed, providing Russia with manpower while allowing North Korea to gain combat experience and financial benefits. Analysts view this as part of a growing Russia-China-North Korea-Iran alliance countering NATO and Western democracies. The situation raises concerns about the implications of state-sponsored foreign troops in modern conflicts. n18oc_world n18oc_crux

Russia’s war in Ukraine, which is approaching its grim third anniversary, has an unexpected connection with two districts in Uttar Pradesh.

Last year, nearly a dozen young men from Azamgarh and Mau districts travelled thousands of kilometres away from home in hopes of a good life for themselves and their families. While three of the 13 men who left for Russia died on the battlefield, two returned home after being injured in the war. Of the remaining eight, there is no news on their whereabouts so far.

They were offered jobs as security guards, helpers and cooks in Russia, promised Rs 2 lakh per month but were forcibly sent to the battlefield instead.

Kanhaiya Yadav of Azamgarh and Shyamsundar and Sunil Yadav of Mau have lost their lives in the Russia-Ukraine war. Rakesh Yadav of Azamgarh and Brijesh Yadav of Mau got injured in the war and are home now. Meanwhile, the family members of eight men – Vinod Yadav, Yogendra Yadav, Arvind Yadav, Ramchandra, Azharuddin Khan, Humeshwar Prasad, Deepak and Dhirendra Kumar – are still waiting to hear some news on them.

‘They Trapped My Brother’

In Azamgarh district’s Khojapur village, Yogendra Yadav’s mother, wife and children are beside themselves with grief.

“Vinod Yadav, an agent in Mau, trapped my brother. He told him the job was for the security guard position but he was sent to the Russian border instead,” said Ashish Yadav, the younger brother of Yogendra Yadav.

He said that his brother left home on January 15, 2024, with three agents – Vinod, Sumit and Dushyant. “After reaching Russia, he was forcibly trained and recruited into the army,” Mr Yadav said.

“We spoke to him last in May 2024. He had told us over the phone that he got injured in the war on May 9, 2024. Since then we haven’t heard from them,” he said appealing to the Indian government to intervene in the matter so that his brother could be found.

When asked about her son, Azharuddin Khan’s mother Nasreen, who lives in Azamgarh’s Gulami Ka Pura area, breaks down into tears and recalls an agent’s bait of a high-salary job that took his son away from her. “I haven’t spoken to him for the last ten months”.

“He left with agent Vinod on January 26, 2024. He had offered Azharuddin a job as a security guard. He said he will get Rs 2 lakh per month,” she said.

Azharuddin Khan – the primary earner in his family – was in regular touch with his family after he left. He told them he was being trained and sent to the battlefield.

On April 1, his father suffered a heart attack when he got to know that he had joined the Russian Army. Seven days later, on April 8, he died.

“My last conversation with my son was on April 27. He said to me, ‘Amma, I will work here for six months and I will return home after that. I haven’t heard from home since then,” said a distraught Nasreen.

Waiting For News On ‘Missing’ Son

The Father of Humeshwar Prasad, a resident of Sathiyaon town, also has a similar story. Agent Vinod Yadav took his son away, promising a security guard job.

“They made him sign an agreement then he was recruited by the (Russian) army. He was given a 15-day training,” said Indu Prakash.

“Everyone is worried at home,” said Indu Prakash who last spoke with his son in March, last year,” he said, tearing up.

When he contacted the Indian embassy, he was told his son was “missing”.

Pawan, a resident of Harraiya, last spoke to his brother Deepak – who left for Russia early last year – on July 6, 2024.

All these families are demanding two things from the government – the return of the Indians stuck in Russia and action against agents who forced their loved ones onto the battlefield.

Kanhaiya Yadav – from Raunapur village of Azamgarh district – had gone to Russia for the job of a cook. But, he was recruited into the Russian Army and died on December 6, 2024, after being badly injured.

“I last spoke to my father on May 25, 2024. He told me he was badly injured in the war and was undergoing treatment. I didn’t speak to him after that,” said Kanhaiya Yadav’s son, Ajay.

Months later, in December, the embassy informed him that his father had died.

Rakesh Yadav got injured in the war. But, he was among the very few Indians who could return home. “I went to Russia in January 2024. The agent told me about the job of a security guard and a monthly salary of Rs two lakh”.

“When we reached Russia, we were made to sign an agreement paper, which was in Russian language. When we asked about the content of the document, we were told it describes the job that we would do in Russia,” recalled Mr Yadav.

He reached Russia with Vinod Yadav, who is also currently stuck in Russia due to the war.

Soon after, he was given war training on how to fire rockets, throw bombs and use other weapons.

“When we protested, we were told that we were being given self-defence training,” he said.

Twelve Indian nations have been killed while serving with the Russian military and another 16 listed by the country are missing, the Indian foreign ministry said on Friday.

“Out of the 126 known cases of Indian nationals serving in the Russian armed forces, 96 individuals have already returned. They have been discharged from the Russian armed forces. Of the remaining 18 Indian nationals in the Russian armed forces, the whereabouts of 16 individuals are currently not known,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

Russia has categorised the 16 Indians as “missing”.

In August last year, the Russian embassy said that the country’s ministry of defence stopped recruiting citizens from a number of foreign countries, including India, into the military service.

-With inputs from Ravi Singh.

The first three Israeli hostages returning home under a long-awaited Gaza truce were transferred to the Red Cross on Sunday, a Hamas official and the Israeli military said.

The hostages, all women, “were officially handed over to the Red Cross” in Gaza City ahead of their return to Israel, the senior Hamas official told AFP.

It came hours after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the morning, nearly three hours later than scheduled, after more than 15 months of war.

During the delay, Israel’s military said it was continuing to operate, with the territory’s civil defence agency reporting 19 people killed and 25 wounded in bombardments.

Minutes after the truce began, the United Nations said the first trucks carrying sorely needed humanitarian aid had entered the Palestinian territory, as displaced, war-weary Palestinians set off across the devastated Gaza Strip to return to their home areas.

Thousands of people carrying tents, clothes and their personal belongings were seen going home, after the war that displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population, in many cases more than once.

In the northern area of Jabalia, hundreds streamed down a sandy path, returning to an apocalyptic landscape piled with rubble and destroyed buildings. 

“We are finally in our home. There is no home left, just rubble, but it’s our home,” said Rana Mohsen, 43, back in Jabalia.

Another returning resident, Walid Abu Jiab, said he had found “massive, unprecedented destruction”, with “nothing left” in Gaza’s war-battered north, which has seen intense violence over the past months.

In the southern city of Rafah, Ahmad al-Balawi said that “as soon as I returned… I felt a shock.”

“Entire areas have been completely wiped out”, he told AFP, describing “decomposing bodies, rubble, and destruction everywhere”.

‘Massive’ Aid Effort

Aid workers say northern Gaza is particularly hard-hit, lacking all essentials including food, shelter and water.

Jonathan Whittall, interim chief of the UN’s OCHA humanitarian agency for the Palestinian territories, said on X that the first trucks started entering following the truce, after “a massive effort” to prepare for a surge of aid across the territory.

The truce had been scheduled to begin at 8:30 am (0630 GMT) but a last-minute dispute over the list of hostages to be freed on the first day led to the holdup.

Qatar, a mediator of the truce, later confirmed it had gone into effect.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum campaign group identified the three women set to be released later on Sunday as Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher.

The Israeli military said that “the Red Cross has communicated that the three Israeli hostages were transferred to them and are on their way” to be taken by Israeli forces.

Hamas earlier said it was waiting for Israel to furnish “a list containing the names of 90 prisoners from the categories of women and children” also to be released on the first day.

A total of 33 Israeli hostages, 31 of whom taken by militants during Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, will be returned from Gaza during an initial 42-day truce, in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians in Israeli custody.

The truce is intended to pave the way for a permanent end to the war, but a second phase has yet to be finalised.

It follows a deal struck by Qatar, the United States and Egypt after months of negotiations.

In a televised address on Saturday, Netanyahu called the first phase a “temporary ceasefire” and said Israel had US support to return to the war if necessary.

In Gaza City, well before the ceasefire went into effect, people were already celebrating, waving Palestinian flags in the street.

The Israeli army warned Gaza residents early Sunday not to approach its forces or “the buffer zone” near Israeli territory “for your safety”.

In Israel, the ceasefire was met with guarded optimism.

“I don’t trust our side or their side,” said taxi driver David Gutterman. “Always at the last moment something, a problem, can pop up, but all in all I’m really happy.”

Shai Zaik, an employee at Tel Aviv’s art museum, said he had “mixed feelings” but was “full of hope” that the hostages would return after so many disappointments in the last year.”  

Israel has prepared reception centres to provide medical treatment and counselling to the freed hostages before they return to their families. Health workers have warned of the psychological challenges the captives will face upon release.

600 Trucks

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said 600 trucks a day would enter Gaza after the ceasefire took effect, including 50 carrying fuel.

The war’s only previous truce, for one week in November 2023, also saw the release of hostages held by militants in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas’s October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israel’s history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Of the 251 people taken hostage, 94 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has destroyed much of Gaza, killing at least 46,913 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

The truce took effect on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term as president of the United States.

Trump, who claimed credit for the ceasefire deal after months of effort by the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, told US network NBC on Saturday that he had told Netanyahu the war “has to end”.

“We want it to end, but to keep doing what has to be done,” he said.

Under the deal, Israeli forces will withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians to return “to their residences”, Qatar’s prime minister said in announcing the deal.