This is an archive article published on March 25, 2022
An India-Ukraine love story has a happy ending – with a proposal at Delhi airport
The couple first met in 2019 when Anna, who worked at a private company in Kyiv, visited India for a vacation. They exchanged numbers and became friends
Ukrainian national Anna Horodetska, 30, had been looking forward to her wedding in March, with Delhi High Court lawyer Anubhav Bhasin, 33. The couple had decided to go for a low-key affair in South Delhi instead of a big fat Indian wedding.
Hiding in a bunker in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv soon after the invasion began, Anna spoke over the phone to Anubhav, who told her to stay put. But she decided she had to reach India one way or the other.
“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 told The Indian Express, days after landing in Delhi on March 17.
Her arrival at IGI Airport was anything but ordinary – she was greeted with the sound of dhols and could not believe when Anubhav went down on one knee, took out an engagement ring and asked: “Will you marry me?”
“I was super tired from the journey and did not expect him to do that. I said yes. I fled a war to be with him. I met his mother, who welcomed me with flowers. It was all so nice,” Anna said.
The couple first met in 2019 when Anna, who worked at a private company in Kyiv, visited India for a vacation. They exchanged numbers and became friends. After speaking for months over WhatsApp, she returned to Rajasthan for a road trip the next year when the lockdown was announced due to the Covid pandemic.
“I helped her during the lockdown. We grew closer,” Anubhav said. After meeting a third time in Dubai in February 2021, and then a fourth time in India later that year, Anubhav’s mother asked Anna to marry her son. “My mother proposed on my behalf. We decided to get married under the Special Marriage Act and were preparing documents for it when the war broke out,” Anubhav said.
Story continues below this ad
Anna fled Kyiv with a change of clothes and a coffee machine her grandmother gave as a wedding gift. “I told her, are you crazy, there is a war and you are carrying a coffee machine. She said this was our wedding gift and she would not leave it behind,” Anubhav said.
Anubhav Bhasin proposes to Anna Horodetska at the IGI Airport in New Delhi on Friday
After reaching Lviv with her mother, Anna left for the Polish border. After a two-week stay in Poland, she got a two-year Indian visa. Her mother left for Norway and is en route to Mexico to stay with her husband.
Anubhav recalled spending sleepless nights tracking the events in Ukraine and speaking to senior advocates at the Supreme Court to for help with the visa. “She finally managed to get one with help from the Indian Embassy in Poland.”
The newly engaged couple
Anna now waits for the war to end in Ukraine. She has a dog named Bao she left with her grandmother at Kamyanka village in Cherkasy region. The couple plan on getting married on April 27.
Story continues below this ad
“I want to go back to Kyiv when the war is over and get my dog back. I will spend my life in India,” Anna said.
Anand Mohan J is an award-winning Senior Correspondent for The Indian Express, currently leading the bureau’s coverage of Madhya Pradesh. With a career spanning over eight years, he has established himself as a trusted voice at the intersection of law, internal security, and public policy.
Based in Bhopal, Anand is widely recognized for his authoritative reporting on Maoist insurgency in Central India. In late 2025, he provided exclusive, ground-level coverage of the historic surrender of the final Maoist cadres in Madhya Pradesh, detailing the backchannel negotiations and the "vacuum of command" that led to the state being declared Maoist-free.
Expertise and Reporting Beats
Anand’s investigative work is characterized by a "Journalism of Courage" approach, holding institutions accountable through deep-dive analysis of several key sectors:
National Security & Counter-Insurgency: He is a primary chronicler of the decline of Naxalism in the Central Indian corridor, documenting the tactical shifts of security forces and the rehabilitation of surrendered cadres.
Judiciary & Legal Accountability: Drawing on over four years of experience covering Delhi’s trial courts and the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Anand deconstructs complex legal rulings. He has exposed critical institutional lapses, including custodial safety violations and the misuse of the National Security Act (NSA).
Wildlife Conservation (Project Cheetah): Anand is a leading reporter on Project Cheetah at Kuno National Park. He has provided extensive coverage of the biological and administrative hurdles of rewilding Namibian and South African cheetahs, as well as high-profile cases of wildlife trafficking.
Public Health & Social Safety: His recent investigative work has uncovered systemic negligence in public services, such as contaminated blood transfusions causing HIV infections in thalassemia patients and the human cost of the fertilizer crisis affecting rural farmers.
Professional Background
Tenure: Joined The Indian Express in 2017.
Locations: Transitioned from the high-pressure Delhi City beat (covering courts, police, and labor issues) to his current role as a regional lead in Madhya Pradesh.
Notable Investigations: * Exposed the "digital arrest" scams targeting entrepreneurs.
Investigated the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths and the impact of kodo millet fungus on local wildlife.
Documented the transition of power and welfare schemes (like Ladli Behna) in Madhya Pradesh governance.
Digital & Professional Presence
Author Profile: Anand Mohan J at Indian Express
Twitter handle: @mohanreports ... Read More
Anubhav Bhasin proposes to Anna Horodetska at the IGI Airport in New Delhi on Friday
The newly engaged couple