India, June 30 -- In December 2023, Indian student Sahil Majodhi arrived in Russia to pursue higher studies, months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Majodhi would become one of the scores of Indians lured into serving the Russian military and deployed in Ukraine. He soon surrendered to Ukrainian authorities, maintaining he never intended to fight and wanted to return to India.

Majodhi's case first came to light this year after Ukrainian authorities released a video in which he identified himself as an Indian from Gujarat's Morbi. He appealed to the Indian government to bring him home. Since then, his family has been pursuing legal and diplomatic efforts to secure his repatriation even as his mother, Haseena Banu, a single p...