Mahek Shaikh, a medical student of Sumy State University in Ukraine who hails from Mumbai reported about a huge explosion near International Students’ Hostel on Thursday — 3 March 2022. Unable to get on a call due to poor network, Mahek expressed her apprehensions of losing her life along with her friends in a series of chats.
Russia’s advance on Ukrainian cities intensified as the war enters a second week, displacing more than one million people. About 20,000 Indian students lived in Ukraine when Russia entered Ukraine, only a few hundred has been evacuated.
“Discussed evacuation & identification of exit routes with all interlocutors including Red Cross. Control room will continue to be active until all our citizens are evacuated. Be Safe Be Strong,” the Embassy of India in Kyiv, Ukraine tweeted on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narender Modi had a face-to-face interaction with evacuated students from Ukraine. PM Modi blamed the previous governments for a large number of Indian students going abroad to pursue medical education and called for an increase in the number of medical colleges in India.
Several Indian students are still stranded in Ukraine fearing for their lives, waiting for help and swift evacuation.
Melting snow due to no water supply
When asked about the food and water supply, Mahek said that the students are melting ice on kettles to meet their water demands. She further said the water supply has been cut down since the shelling has begun. She added they have been stranded for nine days with limited food stock.
Staying in bunkers with no internet
Jatin Sain, another student from Haryana said that they have been living in bunkers for days and don’t even have water in washrooms. Female students have been facing more problems as the place has become crowded and gripped with fear. Mohammed Nizamuddin who hails from Hyderabad said that one of the serious problems they are facing is the poor network and low connectivity. Students are using mobile data which is unstable and weak.
Network connectivity is important for these students to stay in touch with their families who are already terrorised due to a death of an Indian student Naveen SG on 1 March, when he stepped out of the bunker to get food.
Frequent bombardments and airstrikes
Mahtab another student described the grim situation in a video, calling out for immediate evacuation. He said that not a single student has been evacuated from the Sumy region. The area has been under frequent bombardments and airstrikes. He further said that there are no transport facilities available to even reach the borders which are 40-50 kilometres away. Some foreign students who tried to escape were shot on their way which has terrified the students.
Some Indian government officials are in touch with the Students’ coordinators and are saying buses are waiting at the Russian border. Mahek said they can’t even step out of their bunkers how can they reach the borders. Stepping out of the bunker is inviting death and they can’t take that risk she further added.
Many students have come out on Twitter asking for immediate evacuation as they fear for their lives. Radhika Sangwan, another medical student has taken it to Twitter asking the Prime Minister and Ministry of External Affairs to evacuate them.
A controversy regarding admissions through NEET in medicine courses has stirred up among various stakeholders. Politicians have started the blame game of not providing facilities. However, the only hopes of stranded students in Ukraine are from the Indian government for immediate evacuation. Mahek expressed her apprehensions in her message, “Evacuate us before our lives are merely reduced to bodies.”
