VISAKHAPATNAM: For 19-year-old Reddi Nomula Satya Sreeja from Visakhapatnam, life turned upside down on Thursday. From spending her time happily with her friends in university to taking shelter in a bunker to save herself with a limited food stocks, which are sufficient only for a few days, it all happened in just one day for this young medical student, who hails from Rampuram village in Pendurthi mandal of Visakhapatnam district.With Russia launching a full-scale attack on Ukraine, Sreeja was one among the thousands of Indians stranded in the East European country.
She is studying first year MBBS in Kharkiv National Medical University in Kharkiv. As Russia started bombing Ukraine, the local authorities sounded an alert and asked people to take shelter in bunkers.Speaking to TNIE from Ukraine on Thursday while shifting to a bunker along with other students, the first thing she said was “We are living with a lot of fear.’’ She stays in a hostel in Oleksiivska, which is close to Russia and 500 km away from Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
“We are hearing sounds of bomb explosions and blasts causing panic to us,” she said. There are nearly 3,000 students from India in four university hostels in Oleksiivska and of them about 800 are Telugus. “We are in touch with Indian embassy officials, but they are in a hapless position to aid us,’’ she said.
Explaining the situation there, she said, “All departmental stores ran out of stock as people resorted to panic buying. We do not have sufficient food. I have some biscuits and cakes and two bottles of water with which I have to sustain now. I have no idea how long we will be in bunkers,” Sreeja said. She booked a flight ticket to Delhi from Kyiv for Saturday to return home. “All the flight tickets were booked by students from my university. But flights have been cancelled. My parents back home are a worried lot. The Indian embassy should take steps for our safe return to India,” she pleaded.
Sreeja said those who were supposed to catch the Thursday flight left for Kyiv on Wednesday. But their flight was cancelled and they were stranded at the airport. “Like many other students, including those from AP, we are in a state of despair. We do not know what to do. We urge PM Modi and CM Jagan to bring us back to India by military flights if civilian flights are not allowed,” she urged. “I never thought that I would be caught in such a tense situation. I came here in December with a lot of hope to study MBBS and return to India as a doctor,’’ Sreeja said.
Her father Reddi Arjun told TNIE that his daughter is very intelligent. “We sent her to Ukraine for medicine due to much delay in NEET and no clarity on the exam schedule,’’ he said.Arjun, who runs a cement shop, said they were trying to bring Sreeja back to India for the last 15 days. However, due to delay in getting transit visa, she could not come back.Sreeja and other students had gone to Ukraine on temporary visa, which was supposed to be renewed after three months. However, there was a delay in renewal and they had to depend on temporary visa, he added.
3k Indian students in Oleksiivska
There are nearly 3,000 students from India in four hostels in Oleksiivska and of them 800 are from AP. The students are in touch with the Indian embassy in Kyiv. The suspension of flights has put them distress