‘I was lucky enough to leave early...’

Another Naga student finally home after a harrowing week in war-torn Ukraine

Vishü Rita Krocha
Kohima | March 5

Not in his wildest dreams did Machu Yirackchang think he would be fleeing a war when he first enrolled himself at the I Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University in Ukraine. “After I left, there was bombing in the city I live. It was a small military base…I was lucky enough to leave early,” he recalls. He left Ternipol on the morning of February 25, a day after Russia began a large military invasion of Ukraine.

He arrived in Mumbai at noon on Friday through a government-arranged Air India flight from Budapest via Kuwait, after a harrowing week of braving hunger, exhaustion and uncertainty. Machu Yirackchang is currently in Delhi where his sister lives.

“When I reached Mumbai, there were officials from different states waiting and for a moment, I thought there might be officials from Nagaland as well…my other friends were waiting for directions from their respective state governments for their flight home and since there was none from my state, somebody suggested I call Nagaland House in Delhi but my phone was dead. Moreover, I had no Indian number and I was really exhausted, so I took a flight to Delhi on my own and landed around 8:30 pm last night,” he relates to The Morung Express.

When he first heard the news about the war, Yirackchang says, “I was shocked. I didn’t believe it at all because this (conflict) has been going on for the past years since 2014. I thought Russians won’t invade Ukraine but I was shocked to hear they did.” Since he lives in the western part of Ukraine while the invasion is in the eastern part, he recalls, “We were optimistic even when talking to our university teachers but we soon got information from the embassy to leave the country as early as possible.” 

They had otherwise stocked up for a week or so. “When we left, we gave it to our Ukrainian neighbours”, he shares. For foreign nationals, their governments are helping them, but the Ukrainians are stuck there and their government is unable to help because they are fighting with big forces, he goes on to say. “There are no words to say how their condition is, they are really helpless and it’s really a hard time,” he puts across.

However, his own journey home was not going to be easy. Yirackchang, along with his Indian friends left for Poland, the nearest border on the morning of February 25, walking for long stretches of about 40-44 kilometers and waiting in line for around 15-18 hours.

“There was no shelter, no food we could buy from nearby; we had to solely rely on ourselves. If we left the queue even for a moment, we would have to do it all over again,” he explains. “We got really tired, we were exhausted, and eventually we decided it was pointless with no officials to guide us.” It was at this point, they changed route to Hungary border after talking with the agents coordinating with the Indian Embassy. They were stranded in Uzhhorod bordering Hungary for three nights waiting for their names to be shortlisted to travel back to India.

The group finally reached the Indian Embassy in Hungary in the wee hours of March 3—hungry, tired, sleep-deprived but hopeful that they would fly back home soon. But even here, there was no accommodation as it was full— “we were also hungry and exhausted,” he puts across.

‘We really want to go home”
“We really want to go home” became a resonating thought after going on days without proper food and shelter. “We were really tired, sitting in the chair. We asked the volunteers if we could pre-order and pay for our own food but such facilities were not available. We also asked if there was internet connection because we really wanted to talk to our parents but there was no Wi-Fi in the embassy for security reasons,” he recollects.

Then they heard that a bus that arrived after them was directly taken to the airport. “We got agitated and started demanding for answers because they were keeping us since morning with no food and accommodation,” he says.

The group of 49 students were probably the happiest on the night of March 3 when they stood in line to board their Air India flight which would take them to Mumbai. On reaching Delhi on March 4, he says, “it’s really good to be home. The past week has been really stressful and exhausting. We haven’t had proper food, we were just surviving with whatever we got and it’s really nice to have good home-cooked food.”

With friends whom he travelled back to India, they had joked, “we are going to sleep for a day or two.” From the time the war broke out, he also recollects, “I was never alone. We were in groups, the university or the embassy instructed us not to go alone, and so we were always moving in groups. We decided if anything happens, or if we didn’t make out of Ukraine alive, our main target was to move out as early as possible.”  

“My experience was exhausting and difficult but it’s nothing as compared to those in eastern Ukraine,” he says. His heart goes out especially to the Ukrainians—men who are not allowed to leave the country, he adds.

As for him, he is really grateful to have reached home safe and sound. “I really want to thank the media for covering my travel and conveying it to people; family and well-wishers who have been texting me, wishing me well and checking on me. I’ve not been able to respond to everyone since I have been constantly on the move but I thank them for their prayers and concern. I am grateful that I have reached home without any harm,” Machu Yirackchang conveys.