BHUBANESWAR: With students from Odisha spending anxious moments in Pesochyn near Kharkiv, the State government on Thursday stepped in to evacuate them. It has managed to evacuate 25 of them - all first year students of Kharkiv National Medical University - from Pesochyn by arranging two buses in coordination with a State-based private agency that had sent the students to the medical institute.
On Wednesday, the students walked in freezing temperature to Pesochyn after the Indian Embassy issued an advisory asking all Indian students to leave Kharkiv by 6 pm (Ukraine time) in wake of the deteriorating situation. They had taken shelter in a place near Sanatoriy Roshcha at Pesochyn.
State Resident Commissioner in New Delhi Ravi Kant told The New Indian Express that at least 100 students of Odisha shifted to Pesochyn on Wednesday. Of them, 25 were evacuated in two buses on Thursday. They were being taken to the Ukrainian border through Lviv, which is 80 km away from the Poland, till the last reports came in.
“It is a critical situation now. We have managed to arrange transportation and food for all the Odisha students stranded there through local sources. Evacuation will continue and we will rescue all our students from the war zone,” he said.Students, who had lost hope of reaching the western borders, thanked the Odisha government for the evacuation.
On the other hand, another group of 25 Odisha students from Kharkiv managed to reach the Poland border on the day. After an arduous journey of 32 hours, the students are now in Rzeszów city of Poland and waiting to board the flight to India.
Ashish Kumar Bishi of Sonepur said they could board the train from Kharkiv after two failed attempts on Tuesday and after paying a whopping $150 each at the railway station. But the worst wasn’t over yet. They reached Lviv after standing throughout the train journey of 20 hours and walked for another two hours to reach the Poland-Ukraine border.
“At the border, we waited for 10 hours in freezing temperature without food and water to cross over to Poland,” he said and added that all of them had to face hostility from locals. The group is a mix of both junior and senior students of Kharkiv National Medical University.
“It is true that they are letting their own people cross the border or get into trains first. But since each one of us were panicking, it made the situation worse,” said Ashish, adding that beyond the Ukraine border, the Indian Embassy had made good provisions for their accommodation and food. Meanwhile, sources at the Resident Commissioner’s office informed that the Odisha students are expected to reach India tonight. They will be sent to their respective districts on Friday.