KYIV — Ukraine has captured its first Indonesian prisoner of war, according to the Ukrainian government's I Want to Live project, in a case Kyiv says exposes how Russia is drawing foreign workers into its army with promises of civilian jobs.

Source: Kyiv Independent

The project, which runs a surrender channel for Russian troops and foreign nationals fighting for Russia, reported on November 10 that the prisoner is Sukamto Ayok, a 49-year-old man from the city of Blitar on Indonesia's Java island. It said he was sent to fight in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region and was captured after his unit came under a Ukrainian drone attack.

Source: Kyiv Independent

A construction contract that was an army contract, the project says

According to the project's account, a former classmate offered Ayok civilian construction work in Russia in May 2026. He arrived in Moscow on July 22 and signed what he believed was a one-year construction contract — in reality, the project said, an agreement with Russia's Defence Ministry. He was assigned to Russia's 39th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade.

Source: The Guardian (syndicated report)

The project said Ayok discovered what he had signed on July 30, while being transported to Russian-occupied Donetsk. It said he and another Indonesian national tried to escape and were detained, and that Russian personnel forcibly tattooed an identification number on his chest. Awaaz Punjab is reporting these details as the project's claims; they have not been independently verified.

Source: Kyiv Independent

The project said Ayok received no military training before being sent into an assault in Zaporizhzhia region. After his group came under drone attack, he wandered for several days before reaching Ukrainian-held territory, where he was taken prisoner, according to the project.

Source: Kyiv Independent

Kyiv says recruitment from Indonesia is surging

The I Want to Live project said Russia recruited at least 283 Indonesian nationals in the first nine months of this year, against no more than 10 in the previous three years, and it has published a list of 292 names. Those figures come from Ukrainian officials and could not be independently verified; Russia has not commented on the case in the sources consulted, and there was no Indonesian government statement in those sources either.

Source: The Guardian (syndicated report)

In October, Ukrainian officials met Indonesia's ambassador to Ukraine, Arief Basalamah, and said they were willing to allow a consular visit to Ayok, the project said. The Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, whose secretary is Brigadier General Dmytro Usov, runs prisoner issues on the Ukrainian side, and the I Want to Live project was set up in September 2022 by that headquarters with support from Ukraine's Defence Ministry and defence intelligence (HUR) to let soldiers fighting for Russia surrender safely.

Source: Kyiv Independent

The case matters beyond one prisoner. Ukrainian officials say Moscow, short of manpower after nearly five years of war, is increasingly recruiting foreigners — sometimes, Kyiv alleges, through job offers that turn out to be military contracts. For migrant workers across Asia who take up overseas job offers — including workers from Punjab and the rest of India who travel for construction and other work — the allegation at the heart of this case is a warning to verify exactly what a contract says before signing it.

What happens next turns on Jakarta: whether Indonesia confirms Ayok's identity, sends consular officials to visit him, and warns its citizens about recruitment offers. Until then, his story rests on Ukraine's account — reported here as exactly that.