For days they hid underground in the freezing cold with no food or sanitation before the group of Indian students decided to make a run for it.
Trapped in north-eastern Ukraine during Russia's invasion, their only way out was by train to the relative safety of the country's west.
"Things in Kharkiv escalated, the shellings were heavy," said Adwaith, a Kharkiv National Medical University student from India.
"Most of the days we would wake up to the sound of bombs."
In the early hours of the morning, they made the terrifying run from their hideaway in the underground metro station to a platform that could take them to the city of Lviv.
But when they got there, the students weren't allowed on board.
"For us, it was very difficult because they always considered Ukrainian women and children as their priority," Adwaith said.
The students believe they were pushed back because of the colour of their skin.
"Even when they saw Indian women from our group they didn't allow them to get inside," he said.
"We were always sidelined, we didn't even have a chance."
The group's nightmarish ordeal is among multiple allegations of racism during the chaotic mass exodus of refugees fleeing Ukraine.
And with India attempting to remain neutral in Russia's war, some of the students say they were left to fend for themselves in a country that wouldn't let them leave.
The race to find an escape route
More than 18,000 Indian international students were studying in Ukraine before the Russian invasion.
Ukraine was known for its high standard and reasonably priced medical universities, attracting students from parts of the developing world.
Indians made up a quarter of foreign students in the country, by far the largest number.
But when the time came to flee, Adwaith said they were trapped.
"We waited at the railway station for two days," he said.
Adwaith said they saw seats available on the trains.
"When we looked inside the train half the seats were empty, but they'd only allow Ukrainian women," he said.
"Even when there were no Ukrainians on the platform, they'd go to the extent of going somewhere else and finding Ukrainian people and coming back."
The students said they then tried their luck at another train station, which they could only access by walking through dangerous metro tunnels.
"It was about four kilometres from one station to another," Indian student Nithin Sanesar from Kharkiv National Medical University said.
"We were so tired and had to come back in the evenings as well to look for the train."
Nithin Sanesar said it was a hellish ordeal.
"Most of my friends were injured ... when they heard the shelling, they would run out into separate groups and they would fall on the platform," he said.
"And it was so cold and we were shivering. "
These students weren't the only students who reported facing racism trying to leave Ukraine.
Video footage reportedly shows other Indian students not allowed to enter Romania at the border with Ukraine.
An Indian opposition politician also posted vision which he said showed Indian students bashed by guards at another border.
And a humanitarian worker also posted video of Indian international students being turned away by Polish authorities, which he called "absolute racism".
The Polish Prime Minister's office has dismissed the video as "misinformation" saying refugees were being admitted into the country regardless of their nationality.
Students forced to melt snow for water
While foreign officials debated the legitimacy of numerous stories of Indian students being turned away at the Ukrainian border, students started running out of food and water waiting for a way out.
Another group of students in the north-eastern city of Sumy were forced to melt snow for water.
"We do not have anything to eat and drink here. All our supplies [are] finished, and we had to melt ice to drink," Nikhil Tiwari, a medical student from Sumy Medical University, said.
Others made emergency trips from their bunkers to shops above ground hoping to buy supplies.
One Indian student was killed in shelling in Kharkiv after he left his bunker to buy food.
"We were always the last priority for food," Anzalnasis, a student at Kharkiv National Medical University said.
"The Ukrainian food services would give locals food as the first priority."
Students caught in the middle as India remains neutral
After days of waiting at the railway station, Adwaith and his friends were eventually allowed on a train.
"At last, we begged, and they let us enter the train... there were four to five trains and Indian people were finally allowed to get in," Adwaith said.
The students reached the western city of Lviv, where they crossed the border into Hungary and were flown out to New Delhi.
But they can't help but feel that more could have been done to help them.
"We are here mainly because of the risks we took, otherwise we'll still be there," Adwaith said.
"The Indian Government can do better."
A fortnight ago as Russian troops advanced into Ukraine, the Indian government launched a plan to evacuate Indians trapped in the country.
About 22,500 Indians were in Ukraine, many of them students.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held several briefings with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He tried to maintain a neutral stance between the two countries while calling for ceasefires to evacuate the students.
India receives billions of dollars' worth of military hardware from Russia and was supported by the Kremlin during the 1971 war against Pakistan.
But at the same time, India is a part of the Quad, a security dialogue with Australia, the US, and Japan — countries which are all condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
India's attempts to stay neutral during the invasion remain a concern for its western allies.
It has called on both Russia and Ukraine for an "immediate cessation of violence", but it has also refrained from directly criticising Moscow.
India, along with China, also abstained from a UN Security Council vote to condemn Russia's decision to invade Ukraine.
The students, who are now recovering at home in India, say they were stuck in the middle of these ongoing diplomatic tensions with nowhere to turn.
"We were waiting for the Indian embassy to do something," said one of the students, Khirtana.
"But then we had to take matters into our own hands."
