Life in a metro in war-torn Kharkiv

Though the local authorities told them that bread, cookies and drinking water would be provided, they did not receive any supplies.
The students and local residents who have been shifted to the metro station in Kharkiv city. ( Photo | EPS)
The students and local residents who have been shifted to the metro station in Kharkiv city. ( Photo | EPS)

GUNTUR: R Roja of Guntur, like other Indian students and local people woke up to loud bomb explosions on February 24 as Russia invaded Ukraine.

“Till the Russian invasion, like other students of Kharkiv National Medical University, we were told by the Indian embassy in Kyiv there was no need to panic ... when the time came for moving to a safe zone, we were unprepared,” she said.

For the past three days, Roja, along with about 100 students and local residents, have been taking shelter in a metro station. “As the bombardment started, we immediately ran into the metro station near our apartment to save our lives. We do not have adequate food and water. Sanitation too is deteriorating. The temperature dropped to -60 Celsius making matters worse to us,” Roja, a third-year medical student, told TNIE.

Though the local authorities told them that bread, cookies, and drinking water would be provided, they did not receive any supplies. Another worry for the stranded students is losing communication with their parents back home.

“We are not even calling home and only texting them updates to save the battery of mobile. Yesterday, I sneaked into my apartment to get our phones charged and brought some essentials even though it was risky. This is our desperation right now,’’ Roja narrated.

‘No food, water in biting cold’

“We do not have adequate food and drinking water. Sanitation too is deteriorating. The temperature dropped to -60 Celsius making matters worse to us,” said R Roja of Guntur

‘Luckily, missile fell near metro did not explode’

She said the supplies brought from her apartment will be sufficient for the next two days only. “We have no idea how will we survive after that. All our hope is slowly withering,’’ she lamented.

She also said they were sleeping in shifts to protect their supplies and a little money. “While the Indian embassy is stating that Indians in Ukraine are safe, we found an unexploded missile on the road near the metro station and informed the matter to the local authorities. Due to heavy snowfall, it did not explode. We could not even think what would have happened if the missile exploded,’’ she rued.

The students stranded in Kharkiv have pleaded with the Government of India to evacuate them from the place at the earliest.

Roja complained that while students of other countries were shifted to safer places much before the Russian invasion, the consultancies and the Indian embassy did not advise them to leave Kharkiv.

“When we contacted the consultancy, it told us that there was no urgency to leave the place,” she said, adding that when the Indian embassy issued the third advisory to leave Ukraine temporarily, they could not get flight tickets and the war started the next day leaving them totally unprepared. “The authorities should at least inform us when they will evacuate us,” she pleaded.

Roja’s father R Venkateswara Rao, an agriculture officer in Eepur mandal, said he was worried about the safety of his daughter as the situation is worsening in Ukraine.

“Kharkiv is about 1,400 km away from the Poland border. It is nearly impossible for the stranded students to reach there without any arrangement made by the Indian government. The Indian officials should make necessary arrangements to evacuate the stranded students from the war-hit Ukraine at the earliest,” he pleaded.

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