‘Everyone here is kind and respectful’: The Ukrainian family sheltering a Yemeni student

Khalid Bin Jaah fled Yemen because of war – now he is staying with a Ukrainian family as Russian troops advance, reports Charlene Rodrigues

Yemeni student Khalid Bin Jaah with his Ukrainian host, Valentina, in Koshmanivka village in Poltava (Khalid Bin Jaah)

Koshmanivka village in the Poltava region, roughly 150km (93 miles) southwest of Kharkiv, is a far cry from the seaport city of Mukalla in eastern Yemen’s Hadhramout.

It is the village where Yemeni aviation engineering student Khalid Bin Jaah, 29, is sheltering with a Ukrainian family after fleeing Russia’s bombings in central Kharkiv – a city which he loved and made his second home – after escaping Yemen’s brutal war in 2015.

In March, The Independent wrote about his harrowing experience living under Russian bombs in central Kharkiv.