Russia-Ukraine conflict: Indian students fend for themselves

Delhi boy Deepak Rauthan said 12 of them had hired a ride to the border, where they did not have to wait too long

An Indian national with his pet dog, evacuated from Ukraine, arrives at the Hindol Air Force Station in Ghaziabad on Monday.: PTI Photo

Basant Kumar Mohanty   |   TT  |  New Delhi   |   08.03.22  : Deshvikash Swain and his fellow Indian students had to spend two days at the Ukraine-Romania border, standing in queue or squatting in the open in sub-zero temperatures, unable to lie down or sleep, with candies for food and very little water to drink.

There was no help from the Indian embassy on the Ukrainian side of the border, which Swain and about 50 others from the Vinnytsia Medical College had reached last week after a 16-hour journey by bus that they had arranged themselves.

“We spent two days stuck on the Ukraine side of the border. We had to stand there so we did not miss our turn for verification of passports, necessary for us to go over to the other side. It was snowing all around,” Swain, who is from Jagatsinghpur in Odisha, said.

After they had crossed over to Romania, Swain and his group were given food, 14 days’ transit visa and accommodation. They caught their flight to India a day later. Swain, a third-year MBBS student, arrived in Delhi on March 2.

A video uploaded recently on social media by another group of Indian students from the Ukraine side of the Romania border shows them standing in heavy snowfall. In the video, the students say there’s no Indian official on the Ukrainian side.

“We have been waiting for 30 hours, and you can see how heavy the snowfall is. There is no shelter. The students are not saying anything because they have to go home,” a student says in the video.

“Thank you so much, Indian embassy, for showing such love and respect. We are very glad to have you.”

Another student, referring to the lack of help from Indian authorities, says: “We are not illegal migrants; we came here legally.”

Aousaf Hussain, a fourth-year MBBS student at the Kharkiv National Medical University who arrived in Delhi on Monday morning, said he and his friends made it to the Hungary border without any support from the Indian government.

The student from Lakshadweep said the group covered part of the journey by bus and part of it on foot.

“It took us four days to cross the border. We had no food, and only limited water. We just drank water and ate candies,” Hussain said.

“After crossing the border, we travelled to Zahoni in Hungary. There were volunteers from the Indian embassy there, and we ate a lot. From Zahoni, we took a train to Budapest. The volunteers put us up in a room.”

He added: “Till the border, no one (in authority) helped or guided us. We had to ask friends who had already crossed the border for guidance.”

Some others had a smoother journey. Delhi boy Deepak Rauthan, a fourth-year student at the Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, came via the Poland border which is close to Lviv.

Rauthan said his group of 12 students had hired a ride to the border, where they did not have to wait too long. Rauthan arrived in Delhi on March 4.