1,450 Indians stuck near Kharkiv hoping for ceasefire: Karnataka boy

CHALAGERI (HAVERI): After walking for about 22km in extremely cold weather conditions without adequate food and water, a group of Indian medical students, stuck in war-torn Ukraine, reached Kharkiv railway station on Thursday to board a train to Lviv, only to find the services were suspended. Not finding any way to reach the borders for the Indian evacuation team to rescue them, they have taken shelter with around 1,450 fellow Indians in a bunker, hoping for a ceasefire.
The 1,450-odd Indian students, including 250 from Karnataka, are stuck in Kharkiv, Ukraine, after skeletal train services were suspended from the city to Lviv on Wednesday midnight following an escalation in hostilities with Russia.
They have now shifted to a bunker on the outskirts of Kharkiv on advice from the Indian embassy. “We do not want to reveal exactly where we are located,” said Amit Vaishar from Ranebennur taluk of Haveri district, adding some 1,450 Indians are sheltered in the bunker.
“We are hoping against hope that the Indian government will prevail upon Ukraine and Russian governments and organise trains for us to travel from Kharkiv to Lviv, a city in eastern Ukraine along the Polish border,” Amit further said.
Another student Shreyan Jain said the last train from Kharkiv departed on Wednesday evening carrying a large number of women, including many from India.
“We don’t have any way right now to reach the border. We may have to wait for some days here hoping that there will be a ceasefire soon.”
Another student Praveen Ajareddy said they don’t have sufficient food. “We are only eating snacks that we bought earlier this week. The weather is not favourable as the temperature has dropped below 0 degrees Celsius. We are constantly in touch with the Indian embassy.”
Natul Jain, father of Shreyan, was hopeful that all students will return home safely. “The Indian government is making all efforts to bring back the medical students from Ukraine,” he said.