New Delhi: More than 650 students are currently stranded in Sumy, a city in north-eastern Ukraine and they all are hoping that they will soon be evacuated. As the war in Ukraine enters into its eight-day on Thursday, tensions and worries for these stranded Indian students have surged.
Trapped in Sumy amid heavy shelling and gunfire, a group of these stranded students told ETV Bharat that "they all are waiting cluelessly for their turn to be rescued by the Indian authorities from Sumy State University. We are in touch with the officials but as the situation here intensifies, nobody is helping us. We are continuously being told to stay where we are, but for how long? Our food storage has almost run out and the situation right now is so grim that our food stocks will barely last for the next two days".
Requesting the Ministry of External Affairs for their evacuation, these stranded Indian students appeal that they should be evacuated as soon as possible because the situation here is worsening with each passing day.
"We have no places to hide here. It's an old city and there are no metro stations. We have been hiding in the basements of old buildings or in the hostel basements. In case something bad happens, we all will get dumped here under these buildings" said Muskan, a student of Sumy State University.
She also added that the last time they talked to the Indian Embassy was on Thursday morning and they assured us that they all will be evacuated soon but till then, they need to stay where they are. "The Embassy here has been issuing advisories and whenever we call them, they reply that 'we are trying, stay in touch, but for how long, it's been seven days since we're hearing this."
"It's been a week since the war started and we all are hiding under basements. While regular advisories are being issued but none of the advisories has been issued for us who are stranded in Sumy. Advisories had only been issued for the capital, Kyiv and Kharkiv. There are around 700 Indian students who are trapped here. We are seeing that many of the students have already been evacuated from Kharkiv, Kyiv, and places near to the western borders but nobody is talking about Sumy," said those stranded students via a video.
"We appeal to the Government of India, to the MEA to pay attention to Sumy. Just like when we were evacuated during the corona time, we request our PM Modi to do the same as the situation here is extremely worrying. We all just want to go back home. There were some university issues and some other issues due to which we were unable to leave. We are hearing some information about it. But that's not a point to discuss at this point of time, we appeal to the government to rescue us," said these students in unison.
Sumi is a small city in the north-eastern of Ukraine, with Russia's border which is less than 50 km away. All the western bordering countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Romania are around 1200-1500 km away from Sumy.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia on Thursday said that 3,726 Indians will be brought back home on Thursday by 19 flights from Bucharest, Suceava, Kosice, Budapest, and Rzeszow.
A total of 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since the advisories were issued and flights under Operation Ganga have been increased to facilitate the evacuation of the remaining students stranded in Ukraine.
Also Read: Lower fees make Ukraine a hotspot for Indian medical students
