Sitting in his bamboo-thatched room, Koushik Dey remains positive that he will return to Ukraine towards the end of this year. He also tells News18 that Ukraine will rebuild and things will become normal despite the destruction.
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Koushik Dey, a resident of Brahmanpara in Gomati district’s Udaipur, has set up his broadband connection. He is a medical student of VN Karazin Kharkiv National University in Kharkiv, which was subjected to Russia’s airstrikes in the initial phases of its so-called ‘military operation in Ukraine’.
He spent two nights in Vokzal Metro Station which was transformed into a bunker overnight. He left Kharkiv on February 26 and even on the day he was leaving there were no signs of increased hostilities but they heard airstrikes. Dependent on advisories issued by the Indian embassy in Kyiv, Koushik Dey with three of his roommates left for Lviv.
“We took a train to Lviv with limited food supplies. We faced a water shortage in Kharkiv. We spoke to a taxi driver in Lviv who charged us Rs 12,000 approximately from the four of us. From there we travelled to the Poland border where Indian officials met us and we were taken there. There were no taxis and they charged us how much they could,” Koushik said. His roommates, who shared an apartment with him, were from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Koushik’s belongings are still in Naukova in Kharkiv. “I can’t retrieve them and I have no hope that I will find them,” he says.
“Upon reaching the Polish border I was relieved to see my other friends. We were checked at checkpoints manned by Ukrainian soldiers. I did not panic and was not anxious. The hostilities only began a day or two later. The strikes were reserved towards the rural areas not the main Kharkiv city,” he said while speaking to News18.
Koushik’s parents are, however, worried. His uncle Ganesh Dey said where he will study. “Kharkiv is reduced to rubble. Students need buildings to study. I was afraid that Russia may drop vacuum bombs. Students don’t have buildings to study anymore,” Ganesh Dey said. His father, Kartik Dey, is relieved but worries if his son will be able to further pursue his dreams to become a doctor.
Koushik says that he is confident that peace will return and his university administration hopes that they will be able to resume classes normally towards the end of the year.
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