Vijayapura lad’s stint with Ukraine college ends with just one-hour class

The stint of an 18-year-old boy from Vijayapura with Kharkiv National Medical University in Ukraine ended temporarily with just one class as war forced him to return to India.

Harsha Nyamagonda, who landed in Kharkiv with dreams of becoming a doctor, had to relocate himself from bunker to bunker for safety. He landed in Kharkiv on February 11 and spent two weeks completing the admission process. He attended just one class before the city was bombed.

Nyamagonda returned to Delhi on Tuesday on an evacuation flight.

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“Till February 22, I was busy completing the MBBS admission process. The next morning, I attended a one-hour class. The war broke out the following day,” he told DH.

“I could neither completely see the college building nor Kharkiv city. Soon after the war started, hostel management sent us to bunkers,” he said.

Nyamagonda added, “I spent most of the time in bunkers. I changed six bunkers during my 3-week stay.“

Narrating his ordeal, he said, “It was a nightmare in bunkers as there was no food and water. I never thought I would safely return to India.”

He said that he walked for about 15 kilometres after the Indian Embassy officials asked students to leave Kharkiv. Nyamagonda and other students with him did not get space on the train in Kharkiv to reach Poland. They were forced to walk for about 10 kilometres and reach Pisochyn. They were kept in a bunker there for four days.

“We reached the Romania border by train from Pisochyn. We boarded a flight and reached India,” he said.

M K Tejasvini from Bengaluru said, “I went to Ukraine six months ago. I had to survive only on soup for days.”

More students returned home to different parts of the state on Tuesday. P G Govardhan from Kolar district; Kushal Sankannavar from Haveri district; Sheetal from Hassan district; Ashwini Yadwad, Prajwal Thimmapur from Bagalkot district; Naveen Kumar from Ballari district and T Suneha from Chitradurga district were among the returnees.

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