It is not the sub-zero temperature, but the fear of a nuclear attack by the Russian troops, that is sending chills down the spines of Telugu students taking shelters in the bunkers in war-torn Ukraine.
“Ever since we have learnt about the movement of nuclear arms by the Russian military forces to Ukraine, we have been shuddering with fear. There is no way we can come out, as the deafening sounds of shelling have created a fear psychosis in us,” said Kalpana, a fourth year medical student at Kharkiv city of Ukraine, in her video message sent to her parents at Shapur Nagar area of Qutbullapur in Hyderabad.
Kalpana, along with some of her Telugu friends, has been spending sleepless nights in the bunker beneath her residential flat for the last four days. “There is no proper food and drinking water. We don’t even have washroom facility here. We are told our network connectivity will also get disrupted in a day or two. We don’t know what to do,” she said.
Kalpana said though there have been reports that the Indian government has been evacuating hundreds of students and others from Ukraine, the number is very less. “In Kharkiv alone, there are over 500 Telugu students, who sent SOS messages to the Indian embassy. So far, they have not made any efforts to evacuate us. Only those in the western parts of Ukraine were evacuated,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Kalpana said though there have been reports that the Indian government has been evacuating hundreds of students and others from Ukraine, the number is very less. “In Kharkiv alone, there are over 500 Telugu students, who sent SOS messages to the Indian embassy. So far, they have not made any efforts to evacuate us. Only those in the western parts of Ukraine were evacuated,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Her classmate, who did not reveal her name in the video, said the Indian embassy people had asked them to move to the border areas, so that they could be evacuated to India. “This is impossible. The border is about 1,400 km away from our city. Leave alone travelling that far, we can’t even come out of this bunker, as there is heavy bombing going on here,” she said.
Another student Sai Naik from Warangal, presently taking shelter in a bunker at Kyiv, said the bombing has been going on continuously. “Last night, an oil factory was bombed and fire could be seen from far-off places. We are really scared for our lives. We are cooking in the house and staying in bunker,” he said.
The students are also panicky as their food stocks are exhausting fast. “We have no clue how to survive after that,” he said.
Gulam Ahmed Mohiuddin Salman, another Hyderabad student currently taking shelter in Kyiv Medical University hostel, said there were no responses from the Indian Embassy officials regarding their evacuation. “There are 200 Indian students presently in the hostel basement. It is impossible for us to travel to the Ukraine border which is 800 kms away from the hostel,” he said.