Risking lives sole option for those stuck: Ukraine returnee
Sameer Singh
Bathinda, March 4
Students are on their own in war-torn Ukraine and have to take chances to make it to the western borders safely, says Mukesh, a third-year MBBS student, from Mansa who returned recently. “You are on your own there. If you muster up courage and take the risk, there are chances you will make it out, but if you wait to be evacuated, your chances are bleak. There is no one at the border or in conflict areas to rescue you,” he said.
Shubhkarman from Talwnadi Sabo, who also returned from Kharkiv, claimed they were “kept in the dark” by Indian Embassy officials until February 15 as they insisted there was no danger if they stayed back. As many as 12 students have returned from Ukraine in Bathinda district since February. Mukesh, who returned with three other students from Mansa, is in touch with other Indian students and has been guiding them on taking a safe route out of Ukraine.
“We are coordinating with friends asking them to risk getting out on their own and not count on officials for help. There is little coordination from embassy staff and students are left with no alternative but to take risk. Four of us along with other students made it out on our own. The ground reality is different from what has been portrayed,” claimed Mukesh.
Talwandi Sabo’s Harshdeep Singh (19) and his sister Palakpreet Kaur (20), who were pursuing MBBS from National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsia in west-central Ukraine returned on Thursday. “We were lucky to have crossed over after reaching the Romanian border in one day. There are many who have had to spend two to three days at the border. Queues of cars stretch up to 30 km near the border area as people wait anxiously in vehicles for their turn to cross over,” said Harshdeep. “There was no one from the embassy to evacuate us. We hired private buses to travel seven hours to reach at the border,” he added.
Rajfreen (21), a medical student at Kharkiv, said: “I had returned a day before the war started, but most of my friends are still stranded there. While two of my friends from Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran returned safely yesterday, another from Mansa is stuck with others in Pesochin. I am in constant touch with them.”
