‘Will stand up, move on’: Indian restaurateur, staff back from Ukraine recount days in shelter

Manish Dave arrived in Kyiv in September last year and opened the restaurant in January. Less than two months later, tensions between the two countries mounted as news reports confirmed a build-up of troops near the Ukrainian border. Dave’s establishment on Chokolivs’kyi Boulevard was soon to turn into a safe haven for locals and Indians in the area. “On February 14, there was a siren-like sound and two Ukrainian locals asked me if they could take shelter at my restaurant. They told me it is a good shelter in case of small bombings as it is underground,” he said.

Over the next few days, US intelligence officials said a Russian invasion was likely while two of Ukraine’s biggest banks came under a cyberattack, disrupting payments and showing zero balances on accounts. An advisory from the Indian government asking its nationals to leave Ukraine, unless their stay is essential, added to worries.

Dave’s restaurant in Kyiv was located below the ground level and, hence, doubled up as a bomb shelter.

On February 15, Dave shut his restaurant. Soon, many arrived there to take shelter. “I needed to do something. So I put a small note on a Telegram group informing people that shelter and food is available at the restaurant,” he said. The restaurant’s WhatsApp group – which usually informed Indian students about offers and discounts – also served as a platform to amplify the message.

Dhaval Bhatt, a staffer at the restaurant who hails from Gujarat’s Anand, said Indian students and locals from nearby buildings came to the eatery-turned-shelter. “There were some children, with whom we would play, and some got their pets too. We had decided by then that we will get through this together,” he said.

Around 130 people took shelter at Saathiya where Dave observed most of them “praying all day and taking care of their loved ones”. With the stock of food at the restaurant, all were fed three meals a day and during non-curfew hours in the morning, the staff would stand in queues at malls for one to two hours to restock. Bhatt added that the locals also brought some food from their homes.

At the restaurant-turned-shelter, Dave remembers people praying, taking care of their loves ones and being glued to the news.

Even before attacks began in full force, Bhatt said he could see long queues at malls; people were loading luggage into their cars and leaving the city, worried about when military law would come into effect. “I was scared, but it also felt good to do my bit to help people during a crisis,” the hotel management graduate added.

The staff would check the IDs of those entering the shelter to ensure everyone’s safety. Doors and windows would be locked when dusk fell. “We would stay up nights for security purposes, taking turns in batches of four to five people,” Bhatt said. The Ukrainians in the group showed Indians how to protect themselves in the event of a bombing, like by hiding under the furniture. “We thought we would be safe as long as we were inside the restaurant,” Dave said.

On February 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion after weeks of troop build-up, many Indians began moving towards the border in hopes of getting evacuated. Bhatt remembers hearing the explosions pick up after around 5 pm that day. But Dave and his team chose to stay put. “We heard of problems faced by Indians at the Poland border and other borders, and we thought the restaurant is a safe place to bide time till the crowds reduce,” he recollected.

On March 1, India issued an advisory asking its citizens to leave Kyiv urgently “preferably by available trains or through any other means available”. The same day, a blast in the city’s main TV tower claimed five lives. As the situation grew increasingly grim, Dave and his 12-member staff fled Kyiv – among the last people to do so – on March 1, leaving the keys of his restaurant with the Ukrainians who took shelter there.

The team then began a journey, fraught with danger and delays, to the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi, around 700 km from Kyiv, close to the Romanian border. “The locals at the shelter packed meals for us and dropped us to Kyiv railway station despite the risk outside. We reached a heavily crowded station to see that the train we were supposed to take was cancelled,” Dave recounted. Luckily, a 5.45 pm train to Chernivtsi was announced, which eventually departed by 9 pm and reached the destination around 2 pm the next day.

Dave and the Saathiya restaurant staff reached a crowded Kyiv station, from where they took a 5.45 pm train to Chernivtsi.

Still 50 km away from the border, the group found a man who arranged taxis for them. “After a commute of 30 minutes, we were dropped at a point that was three to four kilometres from the border. We then walked in the cold and snow till the border, where we were given stamps of exit and admitted into Romanian territory,” Dave said.

Once on the other side, communications with the Indian embassy continued as a Romanian charitable trust took 47 evacuees, including Dave and his staff, to temporary accommodation. They stayed there till March 4 when a call from Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, deputed to oversee evacuations from Romania and Moldova, informed them that they will be travelling home.

After crossing the border, Dave and the 12-member restaurant staff stayed at an accomodation run by a Romanian charitable trust.

The restaurant’s condition remains unknown to Dave, with patchy network signals proving it difficult to establish smooth communication. “The day after we left, there was a blast at the Kyiv railway station. We heard people left the restaurant and went to some other part of the country. I think my restaurant is closed now, but there is no way of finding out,” he said.

Recalling the firings every night, bright lights and bombings, Dave wonders if he will be able to return to Ukraine and revive his business. “If the Russian forces leave the country worth working in, I’ll go back. The way things are going, it looks like it’ll become another Syria. I have many friends for whom I’m worried,” Dave shared. A more optimistic Bhatt said they will return to Ukraine when things get better and resume business.

Though Dave landed in Delhi at 9.30 am on Saturday, relieved to reach safety and rejoin his family, his concerns for the future intermingled with a resolve to stand strong against all odds. “This is the second time I’ve lost everything. I had earlier opened two restaurants in Armenia, but when the pandemic struck, I was stuck in the lockdown in India and they had to be shut down. Then we gathered courage, raised money, invested again and this happened. I will stand up, fight again and move on,” he asserted.

Dave and the restaurant staff landed in Delhi at 9.30 am on Saturday, relieved to be in safe territory but worried for those left behind in Ukraine.

The UN estimates that 12 million people in the country will need relief and protection, while more than four million Ukrainian refugees may need help in neighbouring countries in the coming months.

Hours before he and his colleagues boarded the flight from Romania, Bhatt told The Indian Express that he felt an inexplicable relief on the idea of returning home, but worried for the locals they have left behind in Kyiv and Indian students in cities like Sumy and Kharkiv. “We had the option to be evacuated to our home country, par waha ke log kaha jayenge? (but where will the locals go?) They have lost their homes,” he said.