Anand Prakash woke up to an explosion at 4.50 am on Thursday, at his residence in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. “I did not see or hear the sound of airplanes that may have dropped the bombs, but could sense something was wrong as the explosions were confirmed. Local news channels said the country’s specific targets were under attack by Russia,” he told mid-day.

Anand said things were normal there, not as difficult as the Indian news media has been portraying. “War emergency was declared today. But things are normal, except panic buying of food, fuel and other supplies in the morning. The roads are jammed because of heavy traffic, but the city is still safe,” he said. The first thing that came to his mind after the explosions was to call up friends who are staying in the vicinity of airports, ports and defence installations, because these were the first targets.