Nabha boy holed up in Ukraine school, rues lack of help

Ravneet Singh

Patiala, February 26

Part of a group of 200 Indian students stranded in Ukraine, a Nabha student has alleged lack of coordination among the Indian and Ukrainian authorities and sought help.

Sharing his ordeal, Arjun Batish, a student of National Medical University, Kharkiv, said the situation was grim as cases of looting and snatching had been reported. “I was supposed to leave on a flight to India on February 24. But the country shut its airspace hours before our flight was scheduled. Since then, it has been a struggle. We earlier stayed at the airport, and then moved close to the Indian Embassy in Kyiv.”

He is among 200 students who have taken refuge at a school adjacent to the Indian Embassy. “We have been in touch with officials at the embassy. They have provided us with food and shelter. Besides this, there is not much help they can offer. We received permission from the embassy to leave for a city near the Ukraine-Romanian border. From there, we were to move to Bucharest in Romania, to be further airlifted to India. We left for the railway station, but there were no trains, so we had to return.”

His father, Harish Kumar, a faculty member at Punjabi University, said: “We have been in touch with him over the phone. There was scant availability of facilities. We hope the Indian authorities will help our children and bring them back home.”