Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
We’ve heard about the thousands of Indian students who have been stuck in Ukraine and desperate to get out – but one student has been going in the opposite direction.
Sainikesh, 21, went to study aerospace engineering in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2018 from the Indian southern state of Tamil Nadu. When the war broke out, his family asked him to return home but he refused, and instead signed up for the Ukrainian paramilitary forces.
Sainikesh’s distraught parents – who heard the news from Indian intelligence officials – didn’t want to speak to reporters. Another relative told BBC Tamil that Sainikesh had always wanted to become a soldier but couldn’t make the cut because he was shorter than the Indian army’s requirement.
Indian defence officials have not yet been able to contact him. “All we want now is for Sainikesh to return home safely,” his relative said.