Hassan student: Parents worry for safety of stranded girl in Ukraine

In a video call with family on Tuesday, DS Saraswathi, a medical student from Hassan who is stranded in Kharkiv, revealed that her plight was grim and that it is a struggle to get food and water.
The 21-year-old is in her third year at a university in Ukraine. Her parents, obviously afraid for her safety, had called her early in the morning. “We tried to contact her in the afternoon too, but we haven’t been able to reach her,” said her parents Sudish, who works in the automobile sector, and mother Nagamani, a homemaker.
They said they called her around 6am Ukraine time (9am IST) and she had just woken up.“She said she and others were trying to reach the border, but there is no transport,” the parents said. “Indian embassy officials have told them to get to the border.”
The parents say social media is the only way to contact their daughter. “We are trying to stay brave and are awaiting her safe return home,” Lakshmi, Saraswathi’s elder sister, said.
Family members say she is taking shelter in a bunker in Kharkiv, about 1,000km from the border. There are nearly 100 other people in the bunker.
“Within 72 hours after the war started, they had no water. They don’t always stay in the bunker, but if a siren goes off, they hurry back to their bunker,” Lakshmi said. While gas pipelines have been damaged, electricity supply is not hit.
Sudish and Nagamani are from Dasarakoppalu in the district but had moved to Hemavathi Nagar in Hassan city some years ago.
Students from Belagavi, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts also had similar stories to tell of their experience in Ukraine.