VISAKHAPATNAM: There seems to be no end to the ordeal of Indian students trapped in Oleksiivska, close to Kharkiv in the war-hit Ukraine. They have been confined to a bunker of the university hostel for the fifth day since Russia launched its offensive against Ukraine.
“The supply of food is restricted to once a day instead of twice till Sunday. We have run out of water and are finding the survival very difficult in the present scenario,’’ Reddi Nomula Satya Sreeja, a first-year MBBS student of Kharkiv National Medical University who hails from Visakhapatnam district, told TNIE over phone. “No one from the Indian embassy in Kyiv has contacted us so far,’’ she rued.
Curfew is still in force in Kharkiv and Oleksiivska. “We have not received any message from the Indian embassy about evacuation of the stranded students from Kharkiv. The contact number of embassy is not working. There has been no response to e-mails sent by us,” she lamented.
Narrating their ordeal in the bunker, Sreeja said, “There is only one power socket for charging our mobile phones. We have been advised to keep our mobile phones on aeroplane mode to prevent tracking of our location.”
As they do not have enough drinking water, they have procured soft drinks and are using them sparingly to quench their thirst. “It’s not known how long can we sustain in the bunkers. The hope generated by the assurance of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on our evacuation is slowly withering,” she added.
Sreeja and other students made a fervent appeal to the Indian embassy and the government once again to evacuate them from Ukraine at the earliest.
Expressing concern over the safety of his daughter Sreeja, Reddi Arjun said, “It’s unfortunate that no official was bothered about the Indian students trapped in Kharkiv. Over 3,000 Indian students in Kharkiv have virtually been left to their fate. Hardeep Singh, who stood as guarantor for students in Kharkiv, has expressed his helplessness in the present circumstances.”
Arjun said Hardeep Singh was telling them that he was providing food to the students and it was more than what he could do. “I am yet to get a reply from the control room set up in AP Bhavan in New Delhi though I contacted it three days ago over the safety of my daughter in Ukraine,’’ he complained, adding that the reports that the Union government would operate flights for evacuation of stranded students only up to March 2 made them worry more.