¡°Assemble!¡± someone bellowed in the prison corridor, cutting through the silence.

Murmurs began echoing off the white walls, and the stairwells filled with people from all over the world: Egyptians, Chinese, Cameroonians, Kenyans, an Italian ¡ª all soldiers captured fighting for Russia, now held in a Ukrainian jail.

Some joined the Russian military in search of a better life or to escape their home countries, while others were persuaded by Russia¡¯s war aims. Some say they were tricked or forced into signing a military contract they didn¡¯t understand.