On Feb. 23, Razil Malikov, a tank driver in the Russian army, called his family and said he would be home soon; his unit’s military drills in Crimea were just about wrapping up.
The next morning, Russia invaded Ukraine, and Malikov hasn’t been heard from since. On Monday, Ukraine published a video of a captured soldier in his unit, apologizing for taking part in the invasion.
"He had no idea they could send him to Ukraine,” Malikov’s brother, Rashid Allaberganov, said in a phone interview from the western Russian region of Bashkortostan. "Everyone is in a state of shock.”