RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: Three days after Russian forces began their invasion of Ukraine, students from Andhra Pradesh studying at various universities in the war-torn country have moved to bunkers in their college hostels. They may run out of food and supplies soon.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, J Ravi Prasad said, "My daughter J Shivani is a first year MBBS student at Kharkiv National Medical University. It is just 60 km away from the Russian border and 1,200 km from the Poland border. She is unable to reach the Poland border."
Informing that Shivani is in constant touch with him, Ravi Prasad, an agriculturist, added that she was facing issues with charging her phone. His daughter told him that metro stations were crowded as everyone in the city was taking refuge there. However, she is now staying in the bunker for now.
Ravi Prasad said the situation was tense as his family has been very anxious and emotional for the last three days. "We do not know what to do. We are in a state of panic after watching visuals of the war on TV. We sent our daughter for higher studies expecting she will realise her goals. Now, we are praying for her safe return to India," the anxious father said.
Alokya Naga Sai is a fourth year MBBS student at Kharkiv National Medical University. Her father K Prasad is an assistant commissioner in the Endowments Department in Rajamahendravaram. "I never imagined that a war would happen in Ukraine. By God's grace, we have been receiving WhatsApp calls from my daughter. We are worried about her safety," he added.
His daughter told him that she was taking refuge in a bunker and that a fierce battle was going on close to their university hostel. Prasad also said his daughter was unable to reach the Poland border from where she can be evacuated as the university is very far from it.
"Almost all the students from the university are in the bunker and are facing a lot of problems. Frightened by raid sirens, we are not venturing out," Naga Sai informed her father. She also told him that living in the bunker for the last three days has been miserable. It was affecting her mental health, she said.
Prasad appealed to Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate measures to bring back all the Indian students stranded in the war-hit Ukraine.