“Love and war always go together. They are the peaks of human emotion! Evil and good, beauty and ugliness” ― Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena
This has been exemplified by a Delhi High Court lawyer who proposed to his Ukrainian girlfriend, who fled Kyiv, as soon as she landed in India. The couple is now getting hitched next month in Delhi.
How The Love Story Began
Anubhav Bhasin, 33, and Anna Horodetska, 29, met while traveling amid COVID 19 lockdown and have known each other for about two and a half years. So, they aren’t just united amid war but pandemic.
“The first time we actually got to know each other properly was just before the first lockdown in 2020,” Anubhav told the media.
Back then Anna, who was working in an IT company, got stuck due to the cancellation of flights. So, meanwhile, she stayed at Anubhav’s home until she could fly back home.
“Once the lockdown got over, we met again in Dubai and then she came to India, and I went to Kyiv. In December last year, she came to India and met my family and that’s when we decided to get married. Then she went back to Ukraine,” Anubhav shared.
When Russia Invaded Ukraine
Just when the pandemic had weakened, the catastrophic war came with another blow. On the morning of February 24, Anna woke up to the sound of bombs. For the next couple of days, she moved in and out of war shelters.
Anna was hiding in a bunker in Kyiv from where she spoke to Anubhav who asked her to remain there, but she said that she decided to reach India anyhow.
“We had three fights since the invasion began. The first was when he asked me to leave Kyiv and I told him Russia would not invade. The second was when he begged me to board a train but I did not want to. And the third time we fought was when he asked me to stay in the bunker. I told him, you wait, I am coming to India,” Anna said.
That is when she decided to flee to Poland. On February 27, she left her home with her mother and her dog.
“Her mother took a train towards her hometown Kamianka to go to her grandma’s place. Anna waited for two hours till she found a train going towards Lviv, which is to the west of Ukraine and close to the Polish border,” the lawyer recalled.
From Lviv, Anna took a bus to Poland. But she wasn’t the only one to do so. A lot many people had been waiting at the Polish border for more than 24 hours and had not been able to get through. So, she changed her route and took a bus going to the border with Slovakia. Fortunately, after waiting for a couple of hours, she crossed the border on foot. Eventually, Anna found a minibus heading to Kraków, Poland, where stayed for a couple of weeks.
“I had some friends there who helped her and provided her accommodation. Finally, she applied for a visa at the Indian embassy in Poland and when it was granted, she flew to India,” Anubhav said.
On her arrival, Anubhav greeted Anna with the biggest surprise possible – the proposal – that bound the two cross-border lovers forever. Of course, Anna said yes!
This is Anna at the Delhi airport. Her arrival was anything but ordinary as her boyfriend, Delhi High court lawyer Anubhav Bhasin got down on his knees and asked her to marry him. She said yes. pic.twitter.com/FaoCRLNfz6
— Anand Mohan (@mohanreports) March 26, 2022
The couple had originally scheduled their marriage in March but had to postpone their plan due to the Russia-Ukraine war. They are now opting for a low-key wedding ceremony in South Delhi.
“We didn’t want to have a big celebration right now but now that we are getting married in court, my mother suggested that we should have a small thing with the family. We filed our paper for the wedding, yesterday and will get married after a 30-day notice period,” shared Bhasin.
Anna will apply for Indian citizenship post marriage. She currently has a year-long visa.
“We just need to go back to get the dog whenever the war gets over,” Anubhav concluded.