Indian who picked up gun for Ukraine ‘wants to return’

COIMBATORE: R Sainikhesh, the 21-year-old aerospace engineering student from Tamil Nadu who had joined Ukrainian paramilitary force to fight Russia, is willing to return to his hometown in Coimbatore soon, his father Ravichandran said.

Sainikhesh was studying final year aerospace engineering at the National Aerospace University at Kharkiv in Ukraine when, in February, he had joined the Georgian National Legion, a paramilitary unit comprising volunteers. Sainikhesh was twice rejected by the Indian Army because of his height.

Ravichandran, 52, said over phone on Saturday, “Officials from the Union government are in touch with us and have promised us that they would trace our son and evacuate him soon.” He said he contacted Sainikhesh three days ago and that his son agreed to return to India soon. and that his son agreed to return to India soon. “I haven’t been able to speak to him for the past three days. The officials have asked us to contact them at any time. We hope that our son will be evacuated soon from Ukraine. Media reports should not affect his return to India,” he said.

However, a police officer said, “When his parents asked Sainikhesh to return to India, he didn’t respond properly. He did not approach the Indian embassy in Ukraine when the war began. It is not easy to trace him in war zone.”