“We are running out of food stock. We are sleeping on bare floors in freezing temperatures. The toilets are overflowing. We can hear explosions outside. It’s very scary here.”
A final year medical student from Kerala, who is hunkered down in a bunker in Ukraine’s Kharkiv city along with 200-odd students, has described in gut-wrenching details the situation in the war-ravaged country as he made a passionate plea to the Indian government to take urgent steps for their evacuation.
Jayakrishnan J. R.’s despatch from Kharkiv—Ukraine’s second-largest city located about 180 km from capital Kyiv—was exclusively for Outlook.
“We are now in a bunker under a hostel with more than 200 students. Till now we are hearing sounds of explosions. It’s so scary here…even inside the bunker we can feel the vibrations from the explosions,” he wrote from the bunker. He shared his experiences through WhatsApp.
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“We are rationing food because we don’t know when we will be rescued,” Jayakrishnan said in his poignant message.
He said that there are about 200 students in the bunker. But it was unclear whether all of them were Indians. He said more than 1,500 Indian students are hunkered down in separate bunkers in Kharkiv.
He quoted media reports showing the Russian army advancing to the city centre in Kharkiv before they were beaten back by the Ukrainian military. He also wrote about the scheduled peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian leaders to end the war.
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“We heard that the Indian government would start evacuation from eastern Ukraine soon. But this news came from a friend of my father in the prime minister's office,” he said. “But till now there is no solid confirmation about the evacuation or anything related from the Indian embassy here."
He was critical of the Indian embassy, saying it was “not giving proper information when we call”.
“I called them yesterday morning when the situation started getting worse. When they (embassy staffer) heard that we are from Kharkiv, they only told us to stay calm and stay where we are,” he added.
So far, the Indian government has operated five flights to evacuate hundreds of students from Ukraine and promised to bring back the remaining very soon.
“These bunkers are actually underground shelters with no proper ventilation at all. Sleeping on the bare floor in temperatures below minus degrees Celsius is the most painful thing we are facing,” he wrote.
“Stores are out of stock and ATMs are not working. From our caretakers, we got some food yesterday. We need a solid confirmation from the Indian embassy here about our evacuation plans...That’s what we need. Because we are in the most affected and dangerous part of Ukraine,” Jayakrishnan said.
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“Can’t go out…We are facing a dangerous situation here,” he added.
