At 3 am on February 24, Samivelu Vinodh Kumar awoke with a start. Loud sirens were blaring everywhere in the city of Vinnytsia in Ukraine, where the final year medical graduate resides. On the online student groups, there were messages about keeping documents ready in case they had to be moved or evacuated in case of an emergency. “The Indian embassy, a couple of days ago, advised us to move to India, if we can, in light of the escalating tension between Russia and Ukraine,” Vinodh tells TNM. “But I feel like they were playing with words. What did they mean by ‘advise’? There was no warning.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine with a “special military operation” to invade Ukraine at dawn on February 24, 2022. Soon after he made the address, at around 5 am Ukrainian time, explosions were reported across many major cities such as Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, and later in Kharkiv. In this precarious situation, many Indian students in Ukraine are finding themselves panicked and in an uncertain situation, especially with Ukrainian airspace being closed to civilian aircraft.
Ajith, a fourth-year medical student at Kharkiv National Medical University, recounts that he heard bombing sounds at 5 am. When he finally got out of bed a couple of hours later, he noticed that the WiFi in his flat was not working. “A friend of mine who stepped out in the morning noticed long queues outside grocery stores and advised me to buy a month’s worth of supplies if I could manage it. I have been fielding calls from concerned family and relatives since the morning but I don’t know what to tell them – we are equally confused about the next course of action,” says Ajith, who hails from Telangana. Further, since he and many of his friends have lost their WiFi connections, they do not know how they will attend online classes which have been allowed for the next few days.
Prasad Nampally, who hails from Gajwel in Telangana, shared videos of the situation in Kharkiv. The fifth-year medical student can be seen showing a long long queue outside a shop in the city, and he says in the video that he does not have WiFi or proper internet connectivity. "Internet is not there. WiFi is down. I'm not able to speak to people at home. I thought I'll recharge my phone but even that is not working out....There are people everywhere out on the streets and standing in queues. It was all fine till yesterday, see the situation now," he says, adding that everything changed after they heard the sound of bombs on the morning of February 24.
.@prasad_nampally shared this video with me from Kharkiv, Ukraine. He shows the queues outside shops and days that internet is down. Sharing here with his permission. #RussiaUkraineConflict pic.twitter.com/WW3s3yOfKq
— Geetika (@geetikamantri) February 24, 2022
Gopika*, a 23-year-old student studying medicine in Zaporizhzhia, describes the state of her and her friends as panicked. Initially on February 20, when the Indian embassy had issued advisories telling Indian students to leave Ukraine temporarily, Gopika and her friends faced two hurdles – one that flights were too expensive (upwards of Rs 1-1.5 lakh) and that their university was not giving clarity on whether they would allow online classes so that students going back to their home country can continue their education “The university has now said that those who are staying here will have offline classes and those going back to India can have online classes. But many of us are stranded – the education consulting agencies are saying that we can go back to India but we will have to leave our belongings here at a rental. The tickets are over Rs 1 lakh, and many of us cannot afford that,” says Gopika, who is a native of Ernakulam, Kerala. “But we are hearing that some people who booked tickets and went to Kyiv to the international airport are now stranded there,” Gopika adds.
Her friend, Mary*, also from Kerala, adds that some students in Kyiv said that they saw the bombings first hand. However, Mary and Gopika haven’t been able to get in touch with them because of network and internet connectivity issues in Kyiv.
Vinodh says that the saddest part is there is “no promise by Indian authorities.”
“We cannot suddenly leave universities in a war zone – we need to get clearance from the authorities here to say that we can join another university in another country mid-course to finish our studies. I have lived here for six years, I can manage, but there are students who are 17 years old and don’t know much about navigating such a situation here. What we need from the Indian embassy and government are not just advisories, but a plan to evacuate those of us who want to leave,” Vinodh adds.
Indian students outside Indian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine requesting officials to make atleast sitting arrangement inside embassy as they r standing outside since morning in minus two degree cold but they are asked to find hotels themselves.
— Hemant Rajaura (@hemantrajora_) February 24, 2022
@DrSJaishankar #RussiaUkraineConflict pic.twitter.com/Kj5reAm76C
At the time of the conversation with Vinodh on Thursday morning, the advisory of the Indian embassy toId Indians to stay put where they are and also advised those traveling to Kyiv to return to their respective cities temporarily, “especially towards safer places along the western bordering countries.” This is because the Russian invasion is moving from the east of the country to the west.
However, as per the latest advisory, the Indian embassy in Ukraine has said that due to closed airspace, all special flights had been cancelled. “Alternative arrangements are being made for the evacuation of Indian nationals. The Embassy will convey information as such arrangements are finalised so that Indian nationals can relocate to the western part of the country,” the advisory stated. People have also been advised to carry their passports and essential documents with them at all times, and five helpline numbers have been set up.
Advisory to all Indian Nationals/Students in Ukraine
— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) February 24, 2022
as on 24.02.2022.@MEAIndia @PIB_India @DDNewslive pic.twitter.com/CprwFPoZ4o
Further, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to Union Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar to intervene to get 2,320 students from Kerala in Ukraine back home by arranging special flights.
*Names changed