‘My son is back, I pray for the safety of other children in Ukraine’

Bhavishya (left) with his mother Poonam and family members

Poonam Sharma Vats just can't take her eyes off her 19-year-old son Bhavishya. The young man, a medical student in Ukraine, returned to India on Thursday morning amidst the ongoing Russian military aggression in the Eastern European nation. "I am very happy and relieved that my son is back safe and sound. He was initially supposed to be back on February 26," Poonam told mid-day.

Poonam, a resident of Palam village in Delhi, said, "We are glued to him since he arrived. Several other children, tourists and students are stuck because airports are shut and flights are grounded. I pray for the stranded and helpless kids and their safety. I was initially not worried but started panicking after an advisory was issued and the Indian embassy told us to call our kids back home. There were anxious moments and fear on our minds."

Bhavishya has taken admission in Kharkiv National Medical University, Ukraine

Bhavishya, a first-year MBBS student at the Kharkiv National Medical University in Ukraine, said, "I landed in New Delhi at 7 am, and by the time I left things started to get bad and reports of attacks in certain areas were coming in. The situation was still normal when I was there, until two days back. I went only on February 14 but was forced to return. I had barely finished my registration and completed my admission process. Currently, the university is shut and classes will resume depending on when normalcy returns."

Poonam's son arrived by a Ukraine International Airlines flight that was full of Indians, mostly students or tourists. Bhavishya said he travelled from Kharkiv to Kiyv by bus for five hours and from Boryspil International Airport, Kyiv, to New Delhi on an eight-hour flight.

"I feel safe and lucky to have left from there at the right time before things got really bad. Some of my friends are still there but thankfully they are all fine and safe. Internet lines are down so contacting them will be tough. Even I was tense thinking about the position they are in, but hoping this normalises soon. Until I got back, my parents too were very tense, especially after seeing reports of bombing," he said.

An Air India plane - AI 1947 - that took off for Kyiv on Thursday morning to bring back the stranded Indians returned to Delhi due to the closure of Ukrainian airspace following the Russian invasion. When AI 1947 was midair, the Ukrainian authorities announced that flights of civil aircraft within Ukraine "are restricted due to potential hazard for civil aviation".