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In many cities, thousands of Indian students hide, scared they might not make it to border

In many cities, thousands of Indian students hide, scared they might not make it to border
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New Delhi: As the Indian Embassy in Ukraine prepared to pull out nearly 500 Indian students through the Romanian border on Friday afternoon with the first flight carrying them back home scheduled to land in Delhi today (Saturday) morning, thousands more took cover from air raids inside underground metro stations, hostel basements and bunkers in Capital Kyiv and cities across the war-torn country — scared for their lives, running out of supplies and money and desperately making appeals for buses, trains or cars that could take them to the border points from where India is evacuating its people.

After surviving a night of air raids in the Western city of Vinnytsia in an underground bomb shelter, medical student Nirmal Kumar sent a voice message around 5 am local time to Millennium Post, "The situation is worsening here. All night long we could hear continuous sirens and attacks.

Even now, Vinnytsia is being bombed," he said in his note from the bunker.

With Indian authorities pushing for students to make it to Western border checkpoints along Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, the thousands of students who are stranded in cities like Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Vinnytsia have been put in a tight spot with many of them saying that they are unable to find buses or cars that can take them to these border points.

Kyiv is in the north-eastern corner of Ukraine, where fighting has broken out in the streets, Kharkiv in the eastern corner, where air raids have gone on for two days now and even in towns relatively farther — like Ternopil and Vinnytsia — panic has spread among students trying to make a dash for the borders. Vinnytsia is over 300 km from the Romanian border and over 700 km from Uzhhorod on the Slovakia-Hungary border.

"Many students from my hostel panicked and are going to Hungary and Romania borders. We are also trying to find means to travel to the border as soon as possible," said 22-year-old Vaishnavi, a medical student stuck in Ternopil with at least 300 more Indian batchmates. Meanwhile, a batch of students from the Eastern town of Lviv made a last ditch-effort and started walking to the evacuation point 8 km from where their college bus dropped them off.

In Kyiv, a group of eight students from Gujarat remained stuck in the basement of their apartment building near a key metro station where fighting had broken out. One of the students said that they had managed to arrange a private bus to take them to Lviv but they had no idea when the bus would come for them or whether it would even reach them. Another student, Souhardya Majumder, from West Bengal, was stuck with his batchmates (around 400 other students) in his hostel basement near the Chokolivs'kyi Boulevard close to the centre of the Capital.

"We spent the morning underground. We've come up now and are desperately trying to coordinate with friends in other parts of the city to hitch a ride to the borders. I don't see any way to book our own ride. Our only hope now is if Embassy officials help us get out of here," he told Millennium Post over the phone.

While the over 18,000 students stuck in Ukraine nervously follow updates of Indian teams being sent to evacuate them from border points - their primary concern remains to find a way to the border.

"Just now, one of my seniors found a way to get a small bus and left for one of the borders near us with 23 other students. We are helplessly waiting for them to report that the roads are clear for us to follow them," Nirmal said, fearfully adding that they still do not have a confirmation on whether they will get more vehicles to get out of Vinnytsia.

Hailing from Rajasthan, the 21-year-old student said they are concerned about travelling in large convoys. "There are 1,500 to 2,000 of us stuck here. We can hear sirens and attacks constantly and the border is at least 300 km away. We are afraid we might be attacked on the way," he added.

As the first batch of Indian students was readying to exit Ukraine on Friday afternoon, the Embassy there tweeted, "Today afternoon more than 470 students will exit Ukraine and enter Romania through the Porubne-Siret Border. We are moving Indians located at the border to neighbouring countries for onward evacuation. Efforts are underway to relocate Indians coming from the hinterland. This massive evacuation operation was organized through the joint efforts of @MEAIndia @IndiainUkraine @IndiaInHungary @eoiromania @IndiainPoland Preparations are underway for continued movements."

But the Embassy there or Indian authorities in the Ministry of External Affairs here are yet to outline whether there are any plans to send vehicles or officials to help thousands of other students not "located at the border" somehow reach there — to be put on flights back home.


Update as of Saturday morning: However, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine has now issued it's latest advisory, asking all Indians stuck in the country to stay put where they are and not move to border checkpoints without prior information or coordination with the Embassy.

Many students, already having found buses to the borders after much difficulties are now mulling their next steps in light of this advisory - almost all students Millennium Post is in touch with said they are now confused.

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