Delhi man who was shot four times in Ukraine coming home tomorrow

"Since I have got a new life, I want to start afresh. Want to spend time with my family,” Singh, an IT specialist, said after regaining consciousness.

Delhi resident Harjot Singh, who was shot four times in Ukraine while trying to flee the war-torn country, will be returning to India on Monday, Union minister VK Singh announced on Sunday. "Harjot Singh, an Indian national who sustained bullet injuries in Kyiv and lost his passport, will return to India with us tomorrow," the minister tweeted. Singh was hospitalised in Ukraine capital Kyiv after he was shot while trying to reach the city of Lviv.

Providing an account of the incident, Harjot Singh, whose family resides in Delhi’s Chhatarpur area, said he was returning to Kyiv after making a failed attempt to escape the war-hit city on Sunday when his cab came under attack.

"Since I have got a new life, I want to start afresh. Want to spend time with my family,” Singh, an IT specialist, said after regaining consciousness. He was in Ukraine for higher studies.

Singh earlier told Hindustan Times he had been in constant contact with the Indian embassy in Kyiv since the Russian forces' invasion began over a week ago, but to no avail till now.

The government has said it will bear the costs of his medical treatment.

"We are trying to ascertain his exact medical status, including his readiness to be able to move,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, adding that he hoped the government would be able to bring back others who were left behind as well.

On February 27, 31-year-old Singh, who is from Delhi's Chhatarpur area, and his two friends were trying to escape from Kyiv to the city of Lviv but failed to do so. They hailed a cab to return to their homes and that was when terror struck and he sustained multiple injuries.

“When the first bullet hit my left leg, I saw it turning into a J-shaped structure. I fell down on the road. Another bullet hit my chest and the right arm. I lay on the road, wounded, for hours until an ambulance arrived and took me to a hospital. I opened my eyes four days later in the hospital, on Wednesday,” Singh told Hindustan Times over phone from the Kyiv hospital.

India has been evacuating its citizens from Ukraine after the Russian invasion which began last week. As many as 15,900 Indians have been brought back from Ukraine via neighbouring countries, including Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Moldova, and Poland, under Operation Ganga. Of these, 66 flights airlifted as many as 13,852 Indians from Ukraine.