As Moscow stepped up its four-day military advance against Ukraine entering Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, Indian students who are seeking refuge in underground metro stations and bunkers in the city have urged the Indian government to hold talks with Russia to arrange a safe passage for them to that country.
Speaking to The Hindu over phone from Noukova underground metro station, Jiswana K.S., a fourth year MBBS student at Kharkiv National Medical University, said officials of Israel and Pakistan had evacuated their students to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, from where they crossed the border to Poland and were airlifted from there.
By Israel, Pakistan
“From Kharkiv, there is hardly a one-and-a-half-hour-long journey to the nearest Russian city of Belgorod. A diplomatic talk with Russia will enable India to evacuate students from Kharkiv, where intense street fight is on after Russian troops entered the city early on Sunday,” said Ms. Jiswana, who hails from Karunagapally in Kollam. If Israel and Pakistan can evacuate their students from the warfront after holding talks with Russia and Ukraine, the same can be done by India,” said Ms Jiswana.
“We have been staying in minus 2 degree Celsius in the underground metro station for four days. Luckily, power and water supplies and mobile networks are intact till now, but we are staring at an uncertain future. Some students set ablaze their books and clothes to save themselves from the chilling weather. We can’t survive like this for long,” said Akshaya Anilkumar, a second year MBBS student from the same university, who hails from Changanassery.
The Noukova station alone has over 50 Indian students, of whom around 25 are women. There were rumours that stations would be targeted by the pre-programmed weapons which would identify the cluster of people through geolocation, said Aravind Sreekumar, a second year medical student from the same university.
