Ukraine crisis: I empathise with those parents whose kids are still stranded, says Indian student

Himanshu Pawar is a student of Bukovinian State Medical University in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. He was in the first batch of students to arrive in India

As Air India flight AI1944 from Bucharest to Mumbai landed at 19.50 hours on Saturday, a sense of relief and jubilation filled the 219 Indian students on board who had to leave their colleges midway after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine. It also ended days of tense moments for their family members who anxiously waited outside the Mumbai international airport.

A happy Himanshu Pawar, a student at the Bukovinian State Medical University who was among those evacuated from Ukraine through Romania, said, "Thankfully, our flight back home was comfortable and the Indian embassy in Romania also ensured that we were well taken care of till we landed in India. Union Minister Piyush Goyal told us that we were the first batch of students to be evacuated and flown to India. It was a warm welcome. The moment our flight landed at Mumbai airport, several others and I were relieved as those tense moments had ended. A war has broken out so it was scary and frightening." The third-year MBBS student studies in Chernivtsi which is the west-most part of Ukraine, while the war is on in the eastern side - Kharkiv and Kyiv. Because of proximity to the Romanian border, the batch of students could easily cross the border and was received by Indian embassy officials. Goyal entered the aircraft upon landing and boosted the morale of the students.

Pawar with family members

"It is a celebratory moment and my parents are very happy, everyone has been with me throughout. Family members have just been beside me and my phone has been constantly ringing as people have been calling to enquire about my health since I landed. But I have still not met my parents, I am on my way to my home from Nagpur and am excited to be reunited with them after experiencing a war in a foreign nation," said Pawar, who hails from Yavatmal district added. Their classes are online until normalcy resumes in the eastern European nation and Pawar intends to go back so that his education is not affected.

His cousin brother, Vasant, a farmer and a contractor, said "Till the time my brother had not arrived until yesterday [Saturday] morning, we were restless. After what we have seen and the reports that trickled in, his parents and I have had sleepless nights as we constantly thought about the state he and other children would be in. We were all very tense but now that he is with us, we feel joy."

Vasant is equally worried about thousands of students who are waiting to be evacuated. "We cannot even comprehend what they are going through now. Some of them were scheduled to fly out and the bombardment happened at that very airport and they were made to live in a bunker. They are in a different country so it is an even more difficult situation. I empathise with those parents whose kids are still stranded. I pray for the remaining others also to return safely."

7.50 pm
Time the plane landed in Mumbai on Saturday