Ukraine crisis: Holed up inside Kharkiv tube stations, Indian students running out of supplies

Rohit Bhan

Chandigarh, February 26

Huddled inside a train at the Beketova metro station in Kharkiv, a group of Indian medical students are running out of food. “We are eating less to ensure the stock lasts till the time we are evacuated,’’ says Amritpal Singh from Punjab’s Sultanpur Lodhi, a student of Kharkiv’s National Medical University.

Kharkiv being closest to the Russian border, panic has started to set in. “Sirens going off every hour is a reminder how close we are to danger,’’ Amritpal told The Tribune in a Zoom interview.

A distressed Shivangi Sharma from Kapurthala is stranded at another metro station. He said they were running out of drinking water. “We don’t know how long we will have to stay here,’’ he lamented.

Hiding at the Muzei metro station, Mosanna Asharaf Khan, who hails from Bihar, observed: “We have been told that evacuation is taking place via Hungary and Poland borders, but that is on the other side. We are hundreds of kilometres away. Wonder if we will be evacuated safely.”

Students say “contradictory” statements by the Indian Embassy is causing confusion. “Late Friday evening, they said we should reach the nearest border point to be evacuated. Today, they are asking us not to move out. But we can’t hold on for long,” said an anxious Amritpal.