'I Left For India Just a Day Before Russia Invaded Ukraine'

Keyur Karetiya, an Indian student who managed to leave Ukraine just a day before the attack chronicles his journey.

Indian student left Ukraine a day before the Russian invasion.

(Image altered by The Quint/Kamran Akhter)

Video Producer: Varsha Rani

Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan

I am Keyur Karetiya, a medical student at the Dnipropetrovsk State Medical University in Ukraine and I managed to reach India just a day before Ukraine went under attack.

I left for India on 23 February because of the war tensions. On 24 February, Russia ordered a military invasion of Ukraine. The country immediately imposed a state of emergency.

At the Kyiv International Airport.

(Image courtesy: Keyur Karetiya)

Kyiv International Airport was crowded with students on the day I was leaving as most of us started to leave as soon as the advisory was released from the Indian embassy.

Advisory by the Indian embassy on 20 February.

Image accessed by The Quint

But that's not the case with everyone as a lot of students are still stuck in different cities in Ukraine and they couldn't leave immediately because of the sudden hike in airfares after the advisory was released asking students to leave.

Many students were unable to afford the tickets or half of them were not able to get flights because hardly 2-3 flights were coming to Ukraine for evacuation.

Students did not have any other option but to book their tickets in March. This delay resulted in them staying in Ukraine for longer and is now costing them their safety and security.

The Air India flights that were coming to Ukraine to evacuate costed around Rs 60,000 and it's not possible for everyone to afford it in such a short span of time.

'Students Not Safe in Ukraine, Help Them Evacuate'

I landed in Mumbai on 24 February at 4am and it was such a relief. From Mumbai, I took a train to my hometown Surat, in Gujarat.

I had no idea when I boarded my flight that it would be one of the last flights to take off from Ukraine before the attack. A lot of students had booked their tickets for the next day and were asked to go back from the airport, as the airspace has been suspended in the country and all flights have been cancelled.

The current situation in Ukraine is not very good. They are saying that they have heard explosions around them and even in Dnipro, the city I live in, there have been some explosions.

The students there are living in fear and so are their families here in India. All universities have been closed now. I’m requesting the embassy to please help the students in Ukraine evacuate as soon as they can.

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