TN youth in Ukrainian military: Family gives up demands for his return
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Chennai: Family of Tamil youth Sainikesh has stopped insisting that he turn home from the Ukrainian military. His father Ravichandran said the youngster is not keen on returning home.
Sainikesh went to Ukraine to pursue education in Aerospace Engineering and completed the course. He started working at a video game developing company a few days before the war started. When the Russian invasion started, he joined the Georgian National Legion, a paramilitary unit for volunteers under the Ukrainian forces.
He joined the military in February 2022 and stayed back even after the Indian government began to airlift over 15,000 students. The evacuation stopped in mid-March and flight services were cancelled from Ukraine. His family had repeatedly requested that he return to India.
His father said the family contacted Sainikesh after the Russian attack on July 25 and he is not keen to return home. "I also decided to not pester him for the same." His parents had repeatedly approached the government to trace and bring him back.
Sainikesh was keen on serving in the army and central intelligence agencies found his room at the family home full of posters of the Indian army. He had tried to join the Indian army. Upon rejection due to his height, he approached the US Consulate in Chennai for joining the United States Armed forces.
