Ukraine is home: Indian now part of its defence forces

Andrii who went to Ukraine from India 12 years back and made the country his permanent home is now part of the International Legion of Territorial Defence of Ukraine, which is fighting a war against Russia for over a year.

"If someone attacks your home. Will you sit or fight?" Andrii told magazine The Week in an interview to be published in its next edition.

He is married to a Ukrainian woman and has children. Andrii misses south Indian food and says idli and dosa are his favourites.

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Currently, there are three Indians with the International Legion and The Week spoke to two of them in Ukraine last month.

Naveen from Haryana, who studied at the Kharkiv Aviation Institute, first joined the Territorial Defence Forces, which is Ukraine's military reserve. He joined the Army in January this year.

"I was scared of the war in the beginning but my Commander Alex helped me face dire situations," he said in the interview.

The conflict began in February last year.

Around 19,000 Indian students were studying in Ukraine when the conflict began. They were safely brought back.

According to estimates, around 2,000 Indian students have gone back to Ukraine and they are residing mostly in the western part of the East European country.