Stuck In Ukraine Varsity, 600 Indian Students Await Evacuation Amid Shortage Of Food, Water
NDTV
In the first, Indian casualty in the war in Ukraine, a medical student from Karnataka's Haveri district was killed in intense shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
More than 600 Indian students are currently stranded in a university located in Sumy, a city in north-eastern Ukraine, hoping that they will soon be evacuated as "continuous firing and bombing" by the Russian forces has left them completely terrified, one of the students said.
Not a single Indian student from Sumy State University, located close to the Russian border has been evacuated so far, Viraj Walde, who hails from Nagpur in Maharashtra and who is currently studying in the fourth year medical course in that university, told PTI over phone on Wednesday.
"More than 600 Indian students are stuck here in Sumy university. The embassy has neither evacuated us nor given any assurance to that effect. Since the last five days, there has been continuous firing, shelling and bombing in the city," he said. Their final exams were about to start from March 15, he said. "Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, temporary advisories were given to the students and the university informed us that those having exams can wait. Hence, we waited for the exams to start," Mr Walde added.
"But now, the students are terrified and their mental state is deteriorating. Food and drinking water supplies are depleting. Even the banks and ATMs are running out of cash," he said.
