Tamil Nadu student answers the tough call to join Ukrainian forces

Chennai: Indian students are bum-rushing to get out of Ukraine seeing no end to the war. And the authorities in India are pulling all stops to bring them back home.

But one Indian student seems to have little fear of the war, or rather he wills to fight alongside the emaciated Ukrainian forces to dislodge the nation from Russians.

Sainikesh Ravichandran, a 21-year-old student from Coimbatore district in Tamil Nadu has joined the paramilitary forces in Ukraine to fight against Russia, India Today reported.

Officials knocked at his residence inquiring his parents about their son's enrolling. Earlier Sainikesh Ravichandran had applied for joining the Indian Army but he was rejected.

Three years before in 2018 he arrived in Ukraine to study at National Aerospace University in Kharkiv, having the course to complete by July 2020.

After the war broke out the family lost communication with Sainikesh and later they reached him out, seeking embassy's help.

To their shock they learnt that he had volunteered alongside many others joining Ukrainian paramilitary forces to fight Russians.

With Ukraine increasingly getting beleaguered in the Russian attack, throwing up major refugees crisis in Europe, nearly 20,000 foreign volunteers have signed up to join Ukrainian forces, according to Ukrainian officials.

New York Post reported that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba as putting the total number applicants at "approaching 20,000," during a news conference on Sunday

"Experienced veterans and volunteers from 52 countries of the world come to us. This is their desire," Kubela said, according to the report.

Applications poured in after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week announced lifting of visa requirements as he called "citizens of the world" to join the Ukrainian defense.

Zelensky in a video claimed around 16,000 fighters had volunteered to join to fight against Russian forces.