Painful to see Kyiv burning, says defence engineer from Nagpur as he flees Ukraine with wife, son

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For 35-year-old Rajesh Munishwar, a space and defence engineer hailing from Maharashtra’s Nagpur and settled in Kyiv for the last 17 years, it is a “painful experience” to see his city get devastated by the Russian forces.

Munishwar, who has managed to flee Kyiv with his wife and eight-year-old son and cross over to Ukraine’s neighbouring country Romania, said Kyiv has been surrounded by the Russian forces from all sides and several buildings, including key establishments, have fallen prey to heavy bombing.

Talking to PTI over phone from Romania on Wednesday morning, Munishwar, who runs a missile designing company in Kyiv, said he and his family members are part of a group of 18 Indians who arranged vehicles for themselves and crossed over into the neighbouring countries.

“Kyiv is surrounded by the Russian forces from all sides. Northwest and northeast of Kyiv is occupied. Intense fighting is going on between the forces on streets and buildings in Kyiv. The devastation is huge. Yesterday, 64-km-long convoy of Russian forces headed towards Kyiv. Russians told the local people to vacate the city as they planned to make heavy bombing in Kyiv,” he said.

“At Labanovska Street, 200 metres away from our home, a cruise missile hit a building and its ninth and tenth floor were completely destroyed. The road from our home to University of Defence is totally barricaded. Heavy firing between the natives and invasion forces is going on,” he added.

Face-to-face firing between the two sides on the streets has become quite normal in Kyiv, Munishwar said.

In Ukraine, there is a curfew from 5 pm to 7 am, he said, adding that Kharkiv city’s freedom square, central administrative building were heavily bombarded.

“Yesterday, they used thermobaric vacuum bomb. Famous tractor factory XTZ was bombarded. The destruction was enormous. In Kyiv, television tower got destroyed after it was bombed yesterday. It was a painful experience to see your city is burning,” he said with a heavy heart.

Two days back, world’s largest aircraft An-225 Mriya was destroyed. It was designed and built in Ukraine. There is heavy shelling and destruction in Kyiv and almost in all major cities and towns, he said.

“The Indian Embassy had asked us yesterday to vacate Kyiv urgently and escape by any means. We went to the railway station on foot, but saw a huge rush there. It was not possible to take any train as locals (natives) were given the preference. For people from other countries, boarding a train is next to impossible,” he said.

“We are 18 Indians, who arranged small vans and buses and crossed over into the neighboring countries. Me, my wife and child reached Romania yesterday late night and are staying in base camp. We are expected to board a flight to India today,” he said.