Telangana Worker From Jagtial Killed in Russian Missile Strike in Ukraine

A 42-year-old construction worker from Husnabad village in Jagtial district, Telangana, was killed in a Russian missile attack in Ukraine on Sept 1. The victim, identified as Vavilala Sudarshan, lost his life during Russia’s overnight air attacks targeting Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv and surrounding regions. The strikes claimed the lives of 12 people in total.

Another man hailing from Telangana, 35-year-old Ganesh Kalleda, was also injured in the same missile strike. The attack occurred just a month after Sudarshan had narrowly survived a similar strike in Ukraine.

According to his family members, Sudarshan had travelled to Ukraine alongside a relative approximately four months ago. He sought overseas employment after an agent assured him of a construction job offering a monthly salary of Rs 90,000. This promised income represented a substantial increase compared to the Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 he was earning each month in his native village. To secure the job, Sudarshan had paid Rs 6 lakh to the agent.

Upon arriving in Ukraine, Sudarshan found work within the construction sector, but the actual remuneration was around Rs 70,000 per month, falling short of the figure promised by the recruitment agent.

Safety concerns had surfaced earlier during his stay. About a month prior to the fatal attack, a missile had landed barely two kilometres from where Sudarshan was residing. His cousin, Naveen, said that the incident had initially prompted Sudarshan to consider returning to Telangana.

However, Sudarshan later altered his plans and informed his family that he intended to remain in Ukraine for another four months. He told his relatives over a phone call that he wanted to earn enough money to clear his debts before coming back home.

His family had continued urging him to leave the country. Naveen shared that even Sudarshan’s elder daughter had repeatedly asked him to return home. She was preparing for a constable job and was willing to help him financially, but Sudarshan remained in Ukraine, where he was killed in the Sept 1 strike.