"that’s when we decided to get married."
A Ukrainian woman who fled the ongoing war in her home country is set to start a new life in India and marry her boyfriend.
Anna Horodetska was in Kyiv when Russian forces invaded her home country. She has since reached India to be with her boyfriend.
Anubhav Bhasin and Anna first met in early 2020 when she was visiting India.
Anubhav, a Delhi High Court lawyer, said:
“We have known each other for about two and a half years. We met each other while travelling.
“The first time we actually got to know each other properly was just before the first lockdown in 2020.”
But Anna became stranded due to the lockdown and subsequent cancellation of flights.
Anubhav said: “She stayed in my house till the time she could take a flight back to Ukraine.”
Anna, who worked for an IT company and was also a makeup artist, returned to Ukraine during the second lockdown.
He continued: “Once the lockdown got over, we met again in Dubai and then she came to India, and I went to Kyiv.
“In December last year, she came to India and met my family and that’s when we decided to get married. Then she went back to Ukraine.”
The couple planned to get married, but the war then broke out.
Anubhav explained: “When the war broke out on February 24, Anna woke up to the sound of bombs.
“For the next three days, she was in and out of bomb shelters that were close to her home.
“On the 27th morning, she decided to move to Poland, so she packed a bag with warm clothes and other essentials and found a cab to reach the station, from where she left with her dog and her mother.”
The Ukrainian woman travelled to Kamianka then got a train to Lviv.
Speaking about Anna’s ordeal, Anubhav said:
“She reached Lviv on the 27th night and stayed there overnight. On the 28th, Anna decided to take a bus to Poland, but she learnt that there were people who had been waiting at the Polish border for more than 24 hours and had not been able to get through.
“She finally found a bus going to the border with Slovakia and reached there around midnight, and crossed the border on foot after waiting for a couple hours.”
After entering Slovakia, Anna found a minibus heading to Krakow, where she stayed for a couple of weeks.
Revealing that he proposed to her at the airport, Anubhav said:
“I had some friends there who helped her and provided her accommodation.”
“Finally, she applied for a visa at the Indian embassy in Poland and when it was granted, she flew to India and I proposed to her at the airport.”
Anna is now in India and her boyfriend says they are going to get married soon. Anna will then apply for Indian citizenship. She currently has a one-year visa.
Anubhav added: “We just need to go back to get the dog whenever the war gets over.”
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