Walking into a death trap Premium

Joicy's husband dies in Russia-Ukraine war, leaving her and their son in turmoil, highlighting dangers of illegal recruitment.

Jaick, five months old, smiles innocently on his mother Joicy’s lap. He’s unaware of the devastating storm swirling around his young life. Joicy clutches him tightly, her tears flowing uncontrollably.

Her husband, Binil Babu, 32, from Kuttanellur, Thrissur, was killed on the Russia-Ukraine war front three weeks ago. The news of her husband’s death came as a rude shock for Joicy, who is staring at an uncertain future. More agonising is her wait for her husband’s body. Three weeks into Binil’s death, there is no word about when the family will be able to give him a decent burial.

“There’s nothing good to wait for any more,” she whispers, her voice breaking. “But my son should see his father’s face, even if it’s only in a coffin.”

Binil, an electrician, had gone to Russia seeking a better life for his family. Joicy was five months pregnant when he left. Binil had spent nearly a decade working in Oman before returning home. He wanted to settle here. At this juncture, P.O. Sibi, a relative, offered him a job in Poland.

At Kuthupara, nearly eight kilometres from Binil’s home, his relative Jessy anxiously waits for a call from Moscow. Her 27-year-old son, Jain Kurian, who went to Russia along with Binil, was critically injured in a drone attack and is now recuperating at a hospital there.

Helplessness grips Jessy as she speaks of her son’s condition. “Jain is in a critical condition in the hospital, alone. He can’t even communicate with the medical team as he doesn’t know the language. A shell hit him in the stomach. After a surgery and three weeks of treatment, he can now speak faintly on the phone,” she says.

Both families have been desperately knocking on every possible door, hoping to bring their loved ones home — one dead and the other one struggling to survive.