Little food, freezing climate and aggressive soldiers who do not hesitate to assault them at the drop of a hat; harrowing accounts reach from Ukraine
Khushboo (left) with her friends in Ukraine
The lifting of curfew in Kyiv and the subsequent announcement that students can take trains from the Ukrainian capital towards the western part of the country didn’t bring much cheer for scores of Indian students stranded there.
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Khushboo Gajra, a student of Lviv National Medical College, told mid-day, “The ground reality is far from what media reports are trying to portray. We walked for 40 kilometres and then covered another 30 kilometres by bus to reach the Poland border. Just when we were 6-7 km from the border, we were informed that the curfew had been lifted in Kyiv and we could take trains from there.”
Khushboo said the announcement came too late. “Most of the students are again going towards Kyiv but at 4.15 pm Indian time on Monday the siren again started blaring in Kyiv. A few of my friends have reached there but I don’t know what to do. Many students are also returning back to Lviv.”
The student said the visit to the Poland border was a rude shock. “We rushed to the Poland border after the Indian embassy said they will take us to India from the border. At the Poland border, there are no facilities for food, water and shelter. It was -7° degrees Celsius there on Sunday and it also snowed. They are sending locals to Poland on buses. There are no signboards with instructions for Indian students. We are keeping ourselves warm with a bonfire. We don’t even have clothes for the winter here.”
While 2,000 students have assembled, she said, soldiers are firing in the air and beating Indian students. “Many students lost their luggage and passports in the melee and several fell sick and fainted to the cold. The Poland border is not safe now. The Indian government should look into this and take immediate action,” she told mid-day.
The student added, “While the Poland government has said that there is no need for visa to enter the country, the Ukrainian army is also beating girls. Students are standing in queues for more than 48 hours and it has stretched to nearly 2 km. So far, only 10 students have been allowed to enter Poland.”
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