City students recall harrowing time in Ukraine

Hyderabad: The neutral stand taken by the Indian government in the on-going Ukraine war is costing dearly to Indian students stuck there. Many are facing the wrath of the civilians there, while some are being subjected to discrimination, rude behaviour and ill-treatment. They appealed to the Central and State governments for the further studies in the country and help them bring back their certificates.

Two city students, Md Samiuddin and Ghulam Ahmed Mohiuddin Salman, who sought help through video clips returned to the city on Monday. They had a horrifying experience in escaping from Ukraine. "Indian students were roughed up and pushed out of train by Ukrainians when we tried to board it at Kyiv railway station. As thousands of people are stuck in a country, why has your government adopted a neutral stand when Russia is bombarding us? they asked us," said Salman and Samiuddin.

They said the Indian Embassy officials did not help at all as long as they were in Ukraine. In fact, the officials asked them to 'take the risk on your own' if they wanted to leave the war zone. "It was only after they crossed the Ukrainian border that the embassy extended help," said Salman.

Salman is pursuing medicine in Ukraine since 2018. Samiuddin is there since 2019. They have almost completed their fifth-year medicine course at the Uzhhorod Medical University. "We both had no time to collect even our certificates from the university as we left in a hurry to Kyiv. We had a scheduled flight on February 24 to India," they said.

It was on February 22 that we left Uzhhorod as the war clouds gathered over the city. We reached the Kyiv airport at 5 am and were waiting for the flight. But there was a blast on the runway. All passengers were evacuated from the airport. "A government bus dropped us at the bus stop, as there were no taxis plying. We found out the address of the Kyiv Medical University Hostel and headed there after walking 3 km. In the hostel, which had 300 Indian students, we stayed in the basement till February 28. It was a tortuous time as often lights were switched off when Russian shelling intensified," said Salman.

"There were no food supplies; whatever groceries were available in the hostel were shared by all," both recalled.

The city students and other students decided to leave and rush to the border. At the Kyiv railway station, they were not allowed to board a train as Ukrainian civilians were angry at the 'neutral stand' of the government. But somehow, they forced their way into the train forming a human chain. "Mobile phones were snatched as someone tried to take a video. For the next nine hours we travelled standing in the train and reached Lviv city, in western Ukraine, which touches the Poland border." Officials of the embassy came into contact and helped them out in Mezotur city. From there they were taken to the Budapest Airport on March 5. They boarded the Air Asia flight to Dubai and from there came to Delhi. In Delhi they were taken to the Telangana Bhavan and reached Hyderabad on March 7. Hakim Ghulam Mohammed, father of Salman, said "We could only pray to almighty for their safe return." He appealed to the State and the Central governments to ensure that students returning from Ukraine were accommodated in medical colleges here so that they did not lose their academic year.