Several videos are floating on social media showing Indian students trapped in Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine imploring the Indian government for help.
“We have seen Indian army rescuing stranded people in movies. But, nobody is coming for us. We are scared. We don’t have food and water. We have nowhere to go. So, please help us,” says Garima Mishra before breaking down in tears.
Garima Mishra is from Lucknow in UP and is now trapped in a bunker in Kyiv with dozens of other Indian students in panic mode as the Russian army closes in on the Ukraine capital. However, NRI Affairs cannot confirm if the students are still in Kyiv as Indian officials have claimed that there are no more Indians left in Kyiv.
Several students are still trapped in different parts of Ukraine and cannot find their way out due to heavy street fighting between Ukrainians and Russians in other cities.
Though Indian authorities have evacuated several hundred Indian nationals through bordering countries and 26 more flights have been announced in the next 2-3 days, students stranded in the central and eastern parts of the country cannot reach the borders.
India says it will operate 26 charter flights over the next two-three days to bring stranded Indians back. Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster will fly out of Delhi on Wednesday to Romania.
“We are 800 kilometres from the borders. How can we travel to the borders in these circumstances,” says another student in a widely-shared video.
“Indian embassy authorities are not taking our calls. We have been getting no help from anywhere. Please don’t trust Indian media showing that students are being rescued. We have received no help. Please pressurise the government to help us,” pleads this student who did not tell her name in the video.
Students are distressed after watching the videos of Indian students being thrashed by the security personnel at the borders. In addition, an Indian student was killed by shelling in the city Kharkiv on Tuesday, leaving the trapped students unnerved and scared.
Indian foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said the ambassadors of Russia and Ukraine had been called in “to reiterate our demand for urgent safe passage for Indian nationals who are still in Kharkiv and cities in other conflict zones.”
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