VISAKHAPATNAM: Amid the escalating violence in Kharkiv, many Indian students, who had been holed up in Oleksiivska hostel bunkers for the last six days, finally decided to flee and attempt to cross Ukraine’s borders on their own. Without sufficient food and water, many fled to the nearest metro and railway stations to reach the border with Hungary, as Russian forces stepped up shelling in Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities.
Speaking to TNIE from Kharkiv railway station, Reddi Nomula Satya Srija of Pendurthi (Visakhapatnam) said she and 20 other Telugu students were trying to leave Kharkiv on their own as the city was witnessing more violence.
They left Oleksiivska for Kharkiv in a cab. “We were scared throughout the way to the railway station in the wake of reports of firings. We were fortunate not to come across any Russian soldier or tanke on the way,” she said.
The group took a train to Lviv, which is over 1,000 km from Kharkiv. From Lviv, the students will have to travel further to reach the Hungarian-Ukrainian border crossing even as they are running out of money and food. “We have informed the Embassy about our travel plan. Most of us don’t even have a place to sit and are travelling standing. As the train travel is free, there was no need to buy tickets.”
She added they were yet to decide whether to go to Lviv or Uzhhorod, and that there were at least 300 students on the train. Srija, a first-year MBBS student at Kharkiv National Medical University, said they haven’t had access to proper food for the last two days. “There is no water and we drink soft drinks to satiate our thirst.”
Srija and other students of the university were asked to move to the hostel bunkers on the day Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Since then, they had been cramped up in bunkers with the hope that they would be evacuated soon, Srija said.
Meanwhile, Reddi Arjun, Srija’s father, told TNIE that his daughter took the decision to leave Oleksiivska as she came to know that the water supply to the hostel will go dry in three hours. “She booked a cab online to catch the 8 am train at Kharkiv after prohibitory orders were lifted at 6 am. The cab driver made a brisk trip to ferry them from the hostel to the railway station. A blast took place in the hostel area just 20 minutes after they reached the Kharkiv railway station,” Arjun said.
Arjun’s elder daughter is surviving on chocolates that she had bought for her sister. “In the group of 20, nine are girls. The non-stop train has safely crossed Kyiv.”
Arjun was all praise for her daughter as she acted with alacrity and took the decision to move out of Ukraine. He said though 48 students planned to go to Hungary border 20 of them reached the station early and boarded the train. He said the remaining 28 were supposed to board the 12 noon (local time) train.