India on Sunday continued its efforts to evacuate more than 700 Indian students of Sumy State University, but with little success as severe Russian shelling and airstrikes made the task difficult.
Students were holed up in bunkers even as fighting between the Russian and Ukrainian forces continued. Indian World Forum chief Puneet Singh Chandhok on Sunday tweeted that Ukraine Red Cross coordinator Ihor Shapoval visited the university campus, interacted with student coordinators and provided them with water and food.
The Indian embassy in Ukraine tweeted on Sunday that a team was stationed in Poltava city to coordinate the safe passage of Indian students stranded in Sumy to western borders. “Confirmed time and date will be issued soon. Indian students advised to be ready to leave on short notice,” the tweet said.
The message sent by student agents to students asked them to keep their phones charged, give a list of what they needed and be assured that they would be home soon.
“…A few foreign students tried going to Poltava yesterday (Saturday) on their own in three buses… Unfortunately, they came back to Sumy after a few hours because the army didn’t let them to move forward,” the agents’ message said, asking the students to not lose hope.
India has been engaging with Russia and Ukraine for the safe evacuation of students but, according to sources, there has been very little movement on ceasefire. India is also in touch with students through its embassy in Ukraine and MEA control room here. Officials said that constant shelling was making it “impossible to open humanitarian corridors for safe evacuation”.
A student, Pooja Gohil, said locals helped them with water and carrots but there was a communication blackout for the whole day due to constant shelling. “We have been asked to keep away from windows as street fighting has increased… Embassy officials told us not to take risks by moving out on our own, as there was constant bombardment but they haven’t told us any alternate plan.”
“We have been told informally to wait for 48 hours… Even the supermarkets have no food supplies now,” Mahesh Chudasama, a parent from Mumbai told ET.
In the official Whatsapp group, students who have managed to return to India, said the Indian government would have to come up with a “concrete diplomatic plan” to evacuate the Sumy students. “Their mental state is very feeble,” a student said.
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