Thamarassery: 22-year-old Rinsha saw the ugly face of war while she was in Ukraine. The eight days that she spent in the bunker with others during shelling attacks, the 4-hour-long van journey that she completed biting down fear, days of uncertainty where she couldn’t eat, sleep or drink properly and finally the joy of returning to her homeland. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi could feel all these emotions as he spoke with Rinsha upon her return from Ukraine in a meeting held at the White House hotel in Engapuzha. The conversation that lasted around ten minutes ended with Rahul Gandhi advising her to live her life with confidence and promising her help for future studies.

Rinsha is the daughter of Puthupaadi native Abdul Manaf and Seenath. She returned from war-torn Ukraine at 3 am on Tuesday. Rinsha was a first-year medical student at V N Karazin Kharkiv National University. Rahul Gandhi expressed his interest to meet Rinsha on hearing her story.

130 students, including Rinsha, spent nearly 8 days in the bunkers below the hostel next to Kharkiv National University. They had to stay back in the war-ridden country as the conflicts grew.

She arrived in Delhi on the flight arranged by Indian Embassy. She flew from Delhi to Kochi and landed in Kerala on Monday evening, then took the KSRTC bus to Kozhikode. She informed Rahul Gandhi of the tough time she had to face due to the lack of facilities in places of stay, the long wait for journeys and the shortage of Indian rupees at hand.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan, AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal MP, A P Anilkumar MLA, and DCC President K Praveen Kumar were also present with him.