For nearly 11 months, every unanswered question weighed on Md Syed Ali and his wife, Rekha Begum. Their son, Rimel Mia, 27, had travelled to Russia for work but later found himself caught up in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Rimel stopped calling after telling his father they might not be able to speak for “two or three days”. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months.

At their home in Uttar Maruadah village of Gaibandha’s Sundarganj upazila, the family had no way of knowing whether he was alive, injured or dead.

That uncertainty ended yesterday when Syed Ali watched The Daily Star’s interview with his son on Facebook.

“Alhamdulillah, we have now seen that he is alive,” he said.

“We are poor and uneducated. We do not know whom to approach or what to do. The government knows what can be done.”

Syed Ali, father of Rimel Mia

Rimel is one of three Bangladeshis being held as prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine. The Daily Star interviewed the three via Zoom through Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

The other two are Sarwar Sumon from Trishal in Mymensingh and Kamrul Hasan from Nabinagar in Brahmanbaria. For their families, too, the interviews ended months of uncertainty but opened another question: how will they return home?

Syed Ali said Rimel travelled to Russia in March 2025 for construction work after the family paid Tk 6 lakh to a local intermediary known to them only as “Khan”.

Rimel underwent around a month of training in Dhaka before leaving for a scaffolding job at construction sites, his father said. The family raised the money through loans and by borrowing against crops. The debt, which has grown with interest, remains unpaid.

Syed Ali, who said he was physically unable to work and owned no farmland, recalled receiving Tk 1.70 lakh from Rimel during his first three months in Russia.

Rimel later told him that he had left his original company and travelled to Moscow.

“He spoke to me for two days. On the third night, he called and said, ‘Father, we may not be able to speak for two or three days because there is a problem,’” Syed Ali said.

“That was 10 or 11 months ago. We heard nothing after that.”

Rimel did not tell his family that he had joined the Russian military.

In his interview with The Daily Star, he said he enlisted after losing stable work and facing problems over his legal status. He received three days of military training before being sent to the frontline, where he spent around a month alone in a bunker-like shelter.

He surrendered to Ukrainian soldiers on December 8, 2025.

Despite the long silence, Syed Ali said he never believed his son was dead.

“A parent’s heart knows,” he said.

When Rekha Begum learnt that her son was alive and being held in Ukraine, she broke down in tears, he added.

The family now wants the government to take whatever steps are necessary to bring him home.

“We are poor and uneducated. We do not know whom to approach or what to do,” Syed Ali said. “The government knows what can be done.”

‘WE THOUGHT HE HAD BEEN KILLED’

For Sarwar Sumon’s family, months of silence gradually gave way to the fear that he was no longer alive.

The 40-year-old father of three travelled to Russia around a year ago through a recruiting agency in Dhaka’s Uttara for work at a gas project, according to his family.

Although he had been promised a two-year contract, the work ended after around five months, and the company gave the workers return tickets.

His brother-in-law, Anwar Hossain Parvez, said the family had spent more than Tk 10 lakh to send him abroad, raising the money by selling a piece of land and borrowing at monthly interest.

Unwilling to return home burdened with debt, Sarwar and several other workers began searching for jobs in Russia instead, Anwar said.

He alleged that Bangladeshi brokers deceived them repeatedly. One promised work at a grape orchard but abandoned them in a forest, while another left them by a roadside after offering jobs.

A third group allegedly offered to take Sarwar and Kamrul, the third Bangladeshi POW interviewed by this newspaper, to Italy for Tk 10 lakh each. They paid Tk 5 lakh each in advance, with the remainder to be paid after reaching Italy, according to the family.

Instead, they alleged, the two men ended up in the Russian military.

In his interview, Sarwar said he and Kamrul signed Russian-language military contracts, underwent around 35 days of training and were sent to a forested frontline position. They surrendered to Ukrainian soldiers on May 13 after spending five days there.

His family said they last spoke to him after he joined the military.

“We then learnt about the ordeal he was facing,” said his mother, Joshna Ara Begum. “He was trying to recover the money he had lost going to Russia.”

The family’s fears deepened in June when a video showing Sarwar in Russian military uniform surfaced on Facebook. With no direct contact afterwards, relatives and neighbours gradually came to believe he had been killed.

About two weeks ago, another video emerged showing him describing his experiences and detention in Ukraine.

Sarwar’s father, Wazed Ali, is a farmer. His wife works as a nurse at a private hospital and is struggling to support their three children, said neighbour Mashiur Rahman Pavel.

The family urged the government to establish contact with Sarwar and arrange his return.

WAITING FOR THE PHONE TO RING

At Kamrul Hasan’s home in Laur village of Brahmanbaria’s Nabinagar upazila, every phone call still brings a flicker of hope.

His wife, Nazmin Akter, last spoke to him in May during a video call from a Ukrainian detention facility.

“He said he might be able to return within three months,” she said.

“But more than two months have passed, and we have received no further news. We do not know where he is or how he is.”

Nazmin said Swiss journalist Kurt Pelda had helped arrange several calls with Kamrul from Ukraine. But after the journalist left the country, the family received no further information.

“We cannot contact anyone now. We do not know whom to approach or how to look for him,” she said.

Besides Nazmin, Kamrul’s elderly mother, Monowara Begum, and six-year-old daughter, Tayyiba Noor, live at the family home.

After working in Singapore for around 12 years, Kamrul returned to Bangladesh and later travelled to Russia on July 17, 2025, hoping to earn $600 to $700 a month at a construction company, according to his family.

They said he spent around Tk 8.5 lakh, much of it borrowed, to secure the job.

When the work ended, Kamrul went to Moscow in search of employment. His family alleged that brokers took more money by promising to send him to Italy before forcing him to sign documents linked to the Russian military.

Kamrul told The Daily Star that the documents were written in Russian and that he did not know they were military contracts. He said he felt he had no option but to sign after paying the broker.

“The debt is still on our shoulders, and creditors are asking for their money,” Nazmin said. “But my greatest concern is not the money. It is whether my husband will ever be able to return home.”

At home, their daughter continues to ask when her father will return, while Monowara Begum waits for news of her youngest son.