Naveen's friends who are stranded in Kharkiv were shattered by the news of his demise when a Russian missile hit him while standing in a line to buy groceries. They described him as a kind person who went out of his way to help juniors. In fact, Naveen's friends said he had postponed his plan to travel to India Monday and was supposed to fly back Wednesday so that his juniors are not left behind in the war-torn country.
Naveen’s friends Amit and Vaishyar spoke to the media on the telephone and said, “A team took the risk to travel towards the Hungarian border Monday and left. Naveen suggested waiting and taking along juniors as they are less than a year old in Ukraine. It was his idea to leave Kharkiv Wednesday morning.” Both Naveen and Vaishyar are from Karnataka.
Amit said, “I am in the fifth year and we have known each other for four years. We spent six days inside a bunker after the war broke out. Whenever the curfew would be lifted to buy groceries, we would go out together to buy essentials. On Tuesday early morning, I slept around 3.30 am and woke up late. By 6 am Naveen had left out to bring food for all of us.”
According to Amit, the market is 50 metres away from the bunker. “Around 7.58 am, he sent a message to one of us saying he is facing a shortage of money to pay and asked us to transfer some money to his account. One of us called his phone at 8.10 am and some Ukrainian national, who had picked up the call, said he was no more.”
Amit said, “The embassy has given up on the students living in Kharkiv and have left us saying they cannot provide any kind of transportation but will only help if we reach the Hungarian or Romanian borders.”
“We were shattered hearing about Naveen’s death but were not allowed to go to the market as explosions and firings kept continuing,” he said.
Amit’s father Venkatesh Vaishyar demanded the Union government to help students who are in danger. Sources said as soon as the news of Naveen’s death spread, panicked students started to leave Kharkiv.
Speaking to select media, Anaina Anna, a native of Mangaluru, who is presently studying medicine in Kharkiv, said she is taking a risk just like many other Indians. “I tried to reach my agents to get my passport but they refused to hand it over to me. The situation here is getting worse by every minute. There are no trains from Wednesday. So, I decided to leave today (Tuesday). I am going to the border without my passport,” she said.
Anna said that she lived in a bunker which is a kilometre away from the market where Naveen got killed. “Till date, we were living, eating chocolates and biscuits. Even the supply chain has been hit badly and we were out of cash. Either we will die of hunger or get hit by Russia’s fire so we decided to take the risk and leave. More importantly, we don’t have a choice. It will be a 30-40 hours journey.”
