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Harsh Panwar and his girlfriend Reva Shrivastava slept soundly for the first time in a week at a shelter in a wedding venue near the Romanian capital Bucharest, after fleeing Ukraine to the sound of sirens warning of Russian airstrikes.

Indians Panwar, 21, and Shrivastava, 19, met and fell in love while studying medicine at a university in western Ukraine.

After the Russian invasion began, they and many of their compatriots joined long queues of Ukrainian women and children and other foreigners streaming across the border into neighbouring Romania.

“From cruelty to hospitality”

“It was just like crossing the border from cruelty to hospitality,” said Shrivastava, recalling the crush of crowds and loud yelling amidst the confusion.

Indian couple Ukraine
Reuters

“We were just totally out of our minds. For two days we were on the road without any shelter, without any facilities and they were just treating us like nothing.”

Some Latinos, Arabs, African citizens have also complained of poor treatment by border guards as they tried to get out.

In response to the criticism, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet late on Tuesday that everyone should have equal opportunities to get back home.

“Ukraine’s government spares no effort to solve the problem,” he said.

From the Romanian border, the couple joined a large group of foreign students driven to villages near Bucharest’s main airport from where they were waiting to fly home.

“We are not afraid of anything”

The couple spent the night at a wedding and events venue in the village of Corbeanca nestled next to a lush forest, the ceiling covered in fairy lights.

“We spent the night very peacefully and we are not at all afraid about anything,” Panwar said. “In Ukraine we were afraid of the war.”

Wedding venue romania
Reuters

He said that when they first saw the fairy lights it felt like they were “about to celebrate something.”

The venue, which has not hosted a wedding since October when authorities reintroduced restrictions to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, can accommodate more than 100 people, with volunteers donating mattresses, sheets and other items.

“We hope we won’t need to, but we will be available for all refugees as long as needed,” said Dora Patrascu, communications director of the venue called Padurile Regale.

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