KOCHI : Following the death of an Indian student in Kharkiv on Tuesday and the embassy advising all Indian nationals to leave Kyiv urgently, students from Kerala who had sought shelter in bunkers in Kharkiv were a worried lot as they faced a tough choice between taking the risk of travelling to the western borders or staying in bunkers to safeguard themselves.
Siby Mathew, a student of VN Karazin Kharkiv National University and a native of Thiruvananthapuram, said that it was only after he dared to start the journey towards the western borders that he heard the news about the youth’s death in Russian shelling.
“I somehow managed to reach the railway station. A Karnataka youth got killed while on his way to a station. I can hear the sound of the blasts even from here,” Mathew said in a voice message.
He said that the railway stations were packed and everyone wanted to catch the train to Lviv. “There were over 200 Malayali students who I knew and several other Indian students at the railway station. There was heavy rush and we were worried that Ukraine citizens would get preference over us,” he said.
He said that although he missed the train to Lviv, he managed to board a train to Rakiv. “It was very difficult, there was heavy rush but we somehow managed to board it. It was absolute chaos and only due to luck we managed to get inside. The train itself is packed and there is no space to sit. But we are safe now,” said Mathew.
Volunteers said that the now ideal option for Indian nationals in cities like Kyiv and Kharkiv was to catch a train “We are advising those who call us to take a train to Lviv From there, they can board a train to Budapest in Hungary or Warsaw in Poland. Or else, they can reach the western borders and enter Romania or Poland to meet volunteers who will help with evacuation,”
said a volunteer. Meanwhile, another student Rahul Biju said that many were continuing in bunkers especially after the incident in which the Karnataka native died.
“The situation is really bad. We can hear sounds of heavy blasting. We are safe in the bunkers now but we are running out of charge on our phones. We were being told that going outside is risky Still, many are going out. I don’t know how safe it is to take to the streets in the middle of this war,” Biju said.
Meanwhile, Dr UPR Menon, a Kochi native settled in Kyiv, said that the situation was grave in Kharkiv “Kharkiv is about 500km away from here. The situation there is worse. I heard about the death of the student there,” he said.
