Stranded in Ukraine's bunkers, thousands of Indian students desperate for rescue

Indian students numbering about 18,000 constitute the largest group out of the nearly 76,000 foreign students studying in Ukraine

It was around 6 pm local time on Friday – 9:30 pm back home when most Indians were settling in for the day – medical students Anzeena Naushad and her college mates were asked to rush to the bunkers in Ukraine’s Sumy State Medical University.

The Russian soldiers were back in Sumy, a town that is just 50 km away from the Russian border and whose Mayor had surrendered a day before. They had seen the tanks rolling into the town for two consecutive days.

Around 400 students spent more than an hour in a poorly lit, muddy and dusty bunker with dying mobile phones, anxious about when they could reach their homes in Kerala and other parts of India if a solution was far away. They were running out of food and water too.

Also read: 'I don't want to die': Ukrainians fear as invasion closes in

Their passport to safety is a journey that takes at least 19 hours and 900 km in peacetime – to the Polish border that is in the west. The students stuck in Sumy, which is a five-hour-long bus ride from the capital Kyiv, are in the northeast of Ukraine.

Anzeena and her friends Shabna Ashique, Sneha Mangat, Manasa Madhu, Soumya Saji and Bhavana Santosh – all Malayali medical students in the university, which has around 500-600 Indian students – said such a journey to safety could bring in more danger as they have to cross war-hit Kyiv.

Some students had booked tickets for February 23 but with the air space shut, the students said they had to return from Kyiv. “Several students also did not book tickets as they could not arrange money. The ticket fares were high,” one of the students said.

Also Read | Vladimir Putin calls on Ukraine army to remove leadership in Kyiv

Anzeena, a fourth-year student, told DH over the phone from Sumy that the students believed that Russians would not come back, as the city had surrendered without a fight. The invading soldiers had already rampaged the nearby Agrarian University and the students had already got visuals from their friends there.

But on Friday evening, the hostel caretaker informed them about another imminent attack and flocked them to the bunker – all Ukrainian buildings have a basement that could be used as a bunker. They stayed there for over an hour and came out only after the soldiers left the town.

“Staying in a bunker is unthinkable. It is dusty. Many of us started coughing soon after. It’s dirty. There is no toilet,” said one of the students. Even students who were staying in flats also returned to campus, as it was not safe outside.

Read | Ukraine says more than 1,000 Russian soldiers killed so far

For the students, everything was normal till February 22 and their classes were offline. Even when the war hit the capital, online classes were on but on Friday, the university told students that they are giving them a two-week break.

The students stare at an uncertain future as food and water are dwindling. “We have bought food for one week. Basically biscuits and all. We have water but the quantity is decreasing. We are using it sparsely. We are hearing that food is becoming scarce in shops,” said Anzeena.

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