HYDERABAD: Adi Rupasri, 22, was among the 219 evacuees from Ukraine who landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on Friday in one of the special flights arranged by the Centre.
A native of Kollapur in Nagarkurnool district, her parents have been living in Wanaparthy district. She has been pursuing her MBBS at Bukovian state Medical University in Chernivtsi, which is around 140 km from the Ukraine-Romania border.
Rupasri is among the 23 Telugu-speaking students who were escorted to the border on a bus arranged by the Indian Embassy in Ukraine. Though she was accompanied by her roommates, another friend of hers was left behind, to be evacuated in the next round.
According to Rajashekhar Sharma and his team manning the help-desk working round-the-clock from the BJP party office, they have been in constant touch with the students and their parents and coordinating with officials of the Indian Embassy.
He told Express that around 500 Indian students were stopped at the Poland border on Saturday, as the Polish authorities were yet to let in not only students but also other refugees from Ukraine.
It came as a shock to Indians on a day it abstained from a vote in the UN Security Council condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, the Ministry for External Affairs has been engaging with the ministries of Russia, Ukraine, and the countries like Hungary, Romania, and Poland which were expected to host Indian students before they are flown back to India.
First evacuation flight lands
Mumbai: The first Air India flight carrying 219 Indians from Ukraine landed at the Mumbai airport on Saturday evening. The second flight from Bucharest with 250 Indians is expected to reach New Delhi at 3 am on Sunday. The third flight from Budapest is also expected on Sunday
Many pupils still holed up in bomb shelters in Ukraine
The maximum number of Telangana students (90 per cent) were still waiting to be evacuated from Zaporizhzhia State Medical University, which is located in the southeastern part of Ukraine, one of the directions from where Russian armed forces have entered the country and where fighting is still on.
There are still many students from India stranded in Kyiv, hiding in bomb shelters, underground train stations, and other safe houses.
“There are many Indian students still in the war-ravaged country. Diplomatic efforts are on to evacuate all Indian students from Ukraine,” a source said. The Indian Embassy in Ukraine has sent an advisory to students not to go towards the borders without notifying the authorities, as the situation at some of the borders was still tense.
Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, in a statement, stated that the Government of India has been working in various ways to bring back Indian students and that continuous communication with countries neighbouring Ukraine and the Indian embassies were happening.
He assured that the mission undertaken by the Indian government will not stop till the last student is evacuated.