Losing willpower, feeling demoralised: Another day of despair for stranded Indians in Sumy

New Delhi: It was another day of despair for the Indian students in Sumy who are still waiting to be evacuated from war-hit Ukraine amid heavy shelling and airstrikes.

They said they are losing their willpower and feeling demoralised.

"We stood in a queue for three hours in freezing cold, waiting to board the buses and now, we have been told that we cannot go. When will this end? Our willpower is going down. We are feeling demoralised. We are still waiting for an update," Aashiq Hussain Sarkar said, choking on tears.

Around 700 Indian students are stranded in Sumy, which has been witnessing intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops for days now. India has been making efforts to evacuate its citizens from the northeastern Ukrainian city, but with little success due to the heaving shelling and airstrikes.

"The Indian embassy sent five-six buses to take us to Poltava, which is 174 km away. We boarded these buses but were asked to get off moments later as the ceasefire did not take hold. The embassy told us to wait for further information. We have decided to wait," said 25-year-old medical student Jisna Jiji.

Ajith Gangadharan, a fourth-year medical student, said, "We were almost ready to leave on foot. The government asked us to stay put and not take any risk, so we stayed back. But for how long?"

"It has been 10 days (since) we have been waiting here, but there is no ray of hope (as to) when we will be evacuated," said a distraught Indian medical student in a video message.

There is no electricity, no water supply and shops are refusing to accept credit cards, even though ATMs have run out of cash, the Sumy State University student added.

"We are not able to buy even food and essential items," she said.

Exasperated, the Indian students in Sumy posted a video clip on social media platforms on Saturday, saying they had decided to walk to the Russian border in biting cold amid the fighting, raising fears about their safety on the corridors of power in New Delhi.

Soon after the video went viral, the Indian government asked the students to remain in shelters and assured them that they would be rescued soon.

Melting snow to slake their thirst and fast running out of supplies, hundreds of Indian students trapped in Sumy stand on roads every morning, hoping "today is the day" when they will be rescued from the savagery of the war that has engulfed Ukraine.

The wait, however, has got longer as fierce fighting blocks their way to safety across the Russian border.

Over the last few days, the students have been sending SOS messages and posting videos on social media platforms, pleading for their urgent evacuation.

The Indian embassy in Ukraine has said a team from the mission has been stationed in Poltava city to coordinate the safe passage of the Indian students in Sumy to the western borders via Poltava, and advised them to be ready to leave at a short notice.

The war in Ukraine has been going on for over 10 days, without any indication of humanitarian corridors being created for the passage of foreign nationals to safety.

To evacuate its citizens from Ukraine, the Indian government has launched "Operation Ganga" under which thousands of stranded people, mostly students, have been evacuated from nations bordering Ukraine's western frontiers. However, the evacuation from the eastern part remains a challenge.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday and sought his "support" in the evacuation of the Indian students stuck in Sumy.