Students from Gujarat allege atrocities by Ukraine forces

AHMEDABAD: A total of 107 students landed in Gandhinagar on Thursday at the end of the 5-day long hellish journey they all endured through war-torn Ukraine.
Most of the students, who returned mainly from Ternopil State Medical University, narrated hair-raising tales of desperation while they walked nearly 40km on empty stomachs, blisters in feet amid the frightening sounds of bombs and constant shelling surrounding them.
And that's not all. The children also alleged that Ukrainian forces fighting against Russia's invasion also subjected the Indian students to atrocities, held them hostage, and also used them as shields against the Russian military.
A third-year MBBS student from Ternopil, Yuvraj Thakor said that they found ultimate relief only after the students landed in India. "I had left with other students from Ternopil on February 26 to walk towards Poland border which was nearly 250km from Ternopil city," said Thakor.
The home-bound journey was not just a long one, but also one fraught with adversities of nature along with the perils of being tortured by the Ukrainian army. "We had to walk nearly 40km in almost minus thirty-five degrees for three days as there was a long queue of vehicles on the Ukraine-Pald border. We developed blisters in our foot which were bleeding," he said. He went on to describe how the Ukrainian soldiers would hit the Indian students with the butts of their rifles to prevent them from going out of Ukraine. "This is because they wanted us to continue staying in Ukraine and then they can make us human shields while fighting with Russian defence forces," said Thakor.
Nisarg Patel, another third-year MBBS student in Ternopil who hails from Banaskantha, said that they walked in bone-chilling temperatures with just a jacket and backpack. "The process on the Ukraine-Poland border for the verification of the student was very slow which took us two days to get entry," said Patel.
Poorva Patel, a first-year MBBS student from Ternopil University, said that she along with 20 other students also walked for around four days without any food and water to reach the Poland border. "We were attacked and abused by the Ukrainian army. On the order hand, Ukrainian nationals offered us biscuits and water during the difficult time. Sometimes, we were almost on the brink of giving up. But somehow, we gathered courage again and kept walking slowly till we finally reached the Poland border," said Poorva.
Another first-year MBBS student from the same university, Vishu Thummar said that he did not sleep for nearly 72 hours and his cellphone too got discharged while walking towards the Polish border. "Some of the students fainted while walking. There was a three-layer immigration procedure at the Poland border," said Vishu, who is from Ahmedabad.
Vishu had gone to Ternopil city in November to take admission in the December batch. But as it was postponed, he finally got admission in the February batch. "I had studied for around 15 days only after which the war erupted between the two countries," Vishu added. Shikha Bhardwaj, who hails from Rajkot and is a third-year MBBS student said that she had booked her ticket to return to India on March 5. At that time there was no war-like situation between the two countries, she said.