In October last year, David Moothappan saw a Facebook advertisement offering jobs as security guards in Russia.

The promised monthly salary - 204,000 roubles ($2,201; £1,739) - seemed a huge amount to the school-dropout fisherman from the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Weeks later, Mr Moothappan, 23, found himself on the warfront in the Russian-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

“It’s death and destruction everywhere,” he says, when asked about his time there.

He and another man from Kerala managed to return home last week. They are among several Indians who were duped by agents into fighting for Russian forces in the country’s war with Ukraine over the past few months.