DHAKA (AFP) — Young Bangladeshi men desperate for work allege they have been tricked into fighting for Russia against Ukraine, with the reported death of a 22-year-old sparking a surge of worried calls.

Bangladesh’s embassy in Moscow has said around a dozen families have contacted them seeking to bring back their sons they allege were duped into joining the Russian army.

“We had no idea we’d end up on the battlefield,” said Mohammad Akram Hossain, who claimed he and his brother-in-law had registered with a recruiting agency and were originally promised jobs in Cyprus, before being offered work in Russia.

“The recruiting agency said that only work visas for Russia were available, and we agreed to go,” the 26-year-old told Agence France-Presse (AFP), now back home in the South Asian nation.

“But we never imagined we would be abandoned like that.”

Unemployment is high in Bangladesh and the economy was hit hard by protests last year that toppled the government.

Worried relatives have been messaging Bangladeshi diplomats in Moscow after one family said their son Mohammed Yasin Sheikh, 22, was killed on 27 March while serving in the Russian army.

Abul Hashem, Sheikh’s uncle, said the family was called by his friend during the Muslim holiday of Eid at the end of March.

“Yasin’s friend, who is also fighting for the Russian side and a Bangladeshi, called us on Eid and informed us that Yasin had been killed,” Hashem told AFP.

“Later, we received a call from a Russian commander.”

Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed at least two people in Ukraine on Thursday and wounded over two dozen, Kyiv said, as Moscow claimed to have captured another village in the northwestern Sumy region.

Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone strike on a residential building in the city of Zhytomyr — west of Kyiv — killed one person, while a Russian missile attack on the central city of Dnipro killed another.

The attacks came despite the United States pushing for an end of the conflict and holding separate talks with both Moscow and Kyiv — and as US President Donald Trump this week said he was unhappy with Russia for “bombing like crazy.”